Hppletons'  Ibome  IReabing  ffioofcs 

EDITED    BY 
WILLIAM  T.   HARRIS,   A.M.,   LL.  D. 

UNITED  STATES  COMMISSIONER  OF  EDUCATION 


DIVISION  III 

HISTORY 


1.  Rear  admiral— special  foil-dress.  l.  Sailor -full-dress. 

•2.  Captain-  full-dress.  5.  Captain— marine  corps. 

3.  Lieutenant— service  uniform.  (5.  Lieutenant — in  overcoat. 

7.  Private — marine  corps. 


APPLETONS'  HOME  READING   BOOKS 


OUR  NAVY 
IN  TIME  OF  WAR 

(1861-1915) 


BY 

FRANKLIN    MATTHEWS 


NEW  YORK   AND   LONDON 

D.  APPLETON   AND   COMPANY 

1915 


x 

V* 


COPYRIGHT,  1899,  1915, 
BY  D.   APPLETON   AND   COMPANY. 


TO 

AXDEEW   E.   WATROUS, 

PATRIOT,    STUDENT,    AND    TRUE    JOURNALIST, 

WHO    IX    THE    NEWSPAPER    RELATION 

OF    SUPERIOR    TO    SUBORDINATE    FIRST    STIMULATED 

THE    WRITERS     SPECIAL     INTEREST     IN     NAVAL     AFFAIRS, 

THIS     BOOK     IS     DEDICATED 

BY   ONE    WHO    PLACES    HKiH    AMONG    THE    RULES    OF    CONDUCT 

THE    IH'TY    NOT    TO    FORGET    THOSE    THINGS 

WHICH    SHOULD    BE    REMEMBERED. 


3 5 93 o 3 


IKTKODUCTIOST  TO  THE  HOME  KEADDTO 
BOOK  SEKIES  BY  THE  EDITOR. 


THE  new  education  takes  two  important  direc 
tions — one  of  these  is  toward  original  observation, 
requiring  the  pupil  to  test  and  verify  what  is  taught 
him  at  school  by  his  own  experiments.  The  infor 
mation  that  he  learns  from  books  or  hears  from  his 
teacher's  lips  must  be  assimilated  by  incorporating  it 
with  his  own  experience. 

The  other  direction  pointed  out  by  the  new  edu 
cation  is  systematic  home  reading.  It  forms  a  part  of 
school  extension  of  all  kinds.  The  so-called  "  Univer 
sity  Extension  "  that  originated  at  Cambridge  and  Ox 
ford  has  as  its  chief  feature  the  aid  of  home  reading  by 
lectures  and  round-table  discussions,  led  or  conducted 
by  experts  who  also  lay  out  the  course  of  reading. 
The  Chautauquan  movement  in  this  country  prescribes 
a  series  of  excellent  books  and  furnishes  for  a  goodly 
number  of  its  readers  annual  courses  of  lectures.  The 
teachers'  reading  circles  that  exist  in  many  States  pre 
scribe  the  books  to  be  read,  and  publish  some  analysis, 
commentary,  or  catechism  to  aid  the  members. 

Home  reading,  it  seems,  furnishes  the  essential 
basis  of  this  great  movement  to  extend  education 

vii 


viii  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME   OF   WAR. 

beyond  the  school  and  to  make  self-culture  a  habit 
of  life. 

Looking  more  carefully  at  the  difference  between 
the  two  directions  of  the  new  education  we  can  see 
what  each  accomplishes.  There  is  first  an  effort  to 
train  the  original  powers  of  the  individual  and  make 
him  self -active,  quick  at  observation,  and  free  in  his 
thinking.  Next,  the  new  education  endeavors,  by  the 
reading  of  books  and  the  study  of  the  wisdom  of  the 
race,  to  make  the  child  or  youth  a  participator  in  the 
results  of  experience  of  all  mankind. 

These  two  movements  may  be  made  antagonistic 
by  poor  teaching.  The  book  knowledge,  containing  as 
it  does  the  precious  lesson  of  human  experience,  may 
be  so  taught  as  to  bring  with  it  only  dead  rules  of 
conduct,  only  dead  scraps  of  information,  and  no 
stimulant  to  original  thinking.  Its  contents  may  be 
memorized  without  being  understood.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  self -activity  of  the  child  may  be  stimulated 
at  the  expense  of  his  social  well-being — his  originality 
may  be  cultivated  at  the  expense  of  his  rationality. 
If  he  is  taught  persistently  to  have  his  own  way,  to 
trust  only  his  own  senses,  to  cling  to  his  own  opinions 
heedless  of  the  experience  of  his  fellows,  he  is  pre 
paring  for  an  unsuccessful,  misanthropic  career,  and 
is  likely  enough  to  end  his  life  in  a  madhouse. 

It  is  admitted  that  a  too  exclusive  study  of  the 
knowledge  found  in  books,  the  knowledge  which  is 
aggregated  from  the  experience  and  thought  of  other 
people,  may  result  in  loading  the  mind  of  the  pupil 
with  material  which  he  can  not  use  to  advantage. 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION.  Jx 

Some  minds  are  so  full  of  lumber  that  there  is  no 
space  left  to  set  up  a  workshop.  The  necessity  of 
uniting  both  of  these  directions  of  intellectual  activity 
in  the  schools  is  therefore  obvious,  but  we  must  not, 
in  this  place,  fall  into  the  error  of  supposing  that  it  is 
the  oral  instruction  in  school  and  the  personal  influ 
ence  of  the  teacher  alone  that  excites  the  pupil  to  ac 
tivity.  Book  instruction  is  not  always  dry  and  theo 
retical.  The  very  persons  who  declaim  against  the 
book,  and  praise  in  such  strong  terms  the  self -activity 
of  the  pupil  and  original  research,  are  mostly  persons 
who  have  received  their  practical  impulse  from  read 
ing  the  writings  of  educational  reformers.  Very  few 
persons  have  received  an  impulse  from  personal  con 
tact  with  inspiring  teachers  compared  with  the  num 
ber  that  have  been  aroused  by  reading  such  books  as 
Herbert  Spencer's  Treatise  on  Education,  Rousseau's 
Smile,  Pestalozzi's  Leonard  and  Gertrude,  Francis 
W.  Parker's  Talks  about  Teaching,  G.  Stanley 
Hall's  Pedagogical  Seminary.  Think  in  this  connec 
tion,  too,  of  the  impulse  to  observation  in  natural  sci 
ence  produced  by  such  books  as  those  of  Hugh  Miller, 
Faraday,  Tyndall,  Huxley,  Agassiz,  and  Darwin. 

The  new  scientific  book  is  different  from  the  old. 
The  old  style  book  of  science  gave  dead  results  where 
the  new  one  gives  not  only  the  results,  but  a  minute 
account  of  the  method  employed  in  reaching  those  re 
sults.  An  insight  into  the  method  employed  in  dis 
covery  trains  the  reader  into  a  naturalist,  an  historian, 
a  sociologist.  The  books  of  the  writers  above  named 
have  done  more  to  stimulate  original  research  on  the 


x  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

part  of  their  readers  than  all  other  influences  com 
bined. 

It  is  therefore  much  more  a  matter  of  importance 
to  get  the  right  kind  of  book  than  to  get  a  living 
teacher.  The  book  which  teaches  results,  and  at  the 
same  time  gives  in  an  intelligible  manner  the  steps  of 
discovery  and  the  methods  employed,  is  a  book 
which  will  stimulate  the  student  to  repeat  the  ex 
periments  described  and  get  beyond  them  into  fields 
of  original  research  himself.  Every  one  remem 
bers  the  published  lectures  of  Faraday  on  chemistry, 
which  exercised  a  wide  influence  in  changing  the 
style  of  books  on  natural  science,  causing  them  to 
deal  with  method  more  than  results,  and  thus  train 
the  reader's  power  of  conducting  original  research. 
Robinson  Crusoe  for  nearly  two  hundred  years  has 
aroused  the  spirit  of  adventure  and  prompted  young 
men  to  resort  to  the  border  lands  of  civilization.  A 
library  of  home  reading  should  contain  books  that  in 
cite  to  self -activity  and  arouse  the  spirit  of  inquiry. 
The  books  should  treat  of  methods  of  discovery  and 
evolution.  All  nature  is  unified  by  the  discovery  of 
the  law  of  evolution.  Each  and  every  being  in  the 
world  is  now  explained  by  the  process  of  development 
to  which  it  belongs.  Every  fact  now  throws  light  on 
all  the  others  by  illustrating  the  process  of  growth  in 
which  each  has  its  end  and  aim. 

The  Home  Beading  Books  are  to  be  classed  as 
follows : 

First  Division.  Natural  history,  including  popular 
scientific  treatises  on  plants  and  animals,  and  also  de- 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION.  xi 

scriptions  of  geographical  localities.  The  branch  of 
study  in  the  district  school  course  which  corresponds 
to  this  is  geography.  Travels  and  sojourns  in  distant 
lands ;  special  writings  which  treat  of  this  or  that 
animal  or  plant,  or  family  of  animals  or  plants ;  any 
thing  that  relates  to  organic  nature  or  to  meteorol 
ogy,  or  descriptive  astronomy  may  be  placed  in  this 
class. 

Second  Division.  Whatever  relates  to  physics  or 
natural  philosophy,  to  the  statics  or  dynamics  of  air  or 
water  or  light  or  electricity,  or  to  the  properties  of 
matter ;  whatever  relates  to  chemistry,  either  organic 
or  inorganic — books  on  these  subjects  belong  to  the 
class  that  relates  to  what  is  inorganic.  Even  the  so- 
called  organic  chemistry  relates  to  the  analysis  of 
organic  bodies  into  their  inorganic  compounds. 

Third  Division.  History,  biography,  and  ethnol 
ogy.  Books  relating  to  the  lives  of  individuals ;  to 
the  social  life  of  the  nation ;  to  the  collisions  of  na 
tions  in  war,  as  well  as  to  the  aid  that  one  nation 
gives  to  another  through  commerce  in  times  of  peace ; 
books  on  ethnology  relating  to  the  modes  of  life  of 
savage  or  civilized  peoples ;  on  primitive  manners 
and  customs — books  on  these  subjects  belong  to  the 
third  class,  relating  particularly  to  the  human  will, 
not  merely  the  individual  will  but  the  social  will, 
the  will  of  the  tribe  or  nation ;  and  to  this  third 
class  belong  also  books  on  ethics  and  morals,  and 
on  forms  of  government  and  laws,  and  what  is  in 
cluded  under  the  term  civics,  or  the  duties  of  citi 
zenship. 


xii  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OP  WAR. 

Fourth  Division.  The  fourth  class  of  books  in 
cludes  more  especially  literature  and  works  that  make 
known  the  beautiful  in  such  departments  as  sculpture, 
painting,  architecture  and  music.  Literature  and  art 
show  human  nature  in  the  form  of  feelings,  emotions, 
and  aspirations,  and  they  show  how  these  feelings 
lead  over  to  deeds  and  to  clear  thoughts.  This  de 
partment  of  books  is  perhaps  more  important  than 
any  other  in  our  home  reading,  inasmuch  as  it  teaches 
a  knowledge  of  human  nature  and  enables  us  to  un 
derstand  the  motives  that  lead  our  fellow-men  to 
action. 

PLAN  FOR  USE  AS  SUPPLEMENTARY  READING. 

The  first  work  of  the  child  in  the  school  is  to 
learn  to  recognize  in  a  printed  form  the  words  that 
are  familiar  to  him  by  ear.  These  words  constitute 
what  is  called  the  colloquial  vocabulary.  They  are 
words  that  he  has  come  to  know  from  having  heard 
them  used  by  the  members  of  his  family  and  by  his 
playmates.  He  uses  these  words  himself  with  con 
siderable  skill,  but  what  he  knows  by  ear  he  does  not 
yet  know  by  sight.  It  will  require  many  weeks, 
many  months  even,  of  constant  effort  at  reading  the 
printed  page  to  bring  him  to  the  point  where  the 
sight  of  the  written  word  brings  up  as  much  to  his 
mind  as  the  sound  of  the  spoken  word.  But  patience 
and  practice  will  by  and  by  make  the  printed  word 
far  more  suggestive  than  the  spoken  word,  as  every 
scholar  may  testify. 

In  order  to  bring  about  this  familiarity  with  the 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

printed  word  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  re-en 
force  the  reading  in  the  school  by  supplementary 
reading  at  home.  Books  of  the  same  grade  of  diffi 
culty  with  the  reader  used  in  school  are  to  be  pro 
vided  for  the  pupil.  They  must  be  so  interesting 
to  him  that  he  will  read  them  at  home,  using  his  time 
before  and  after  school,  and  even  his  holidays,  for 
this  purpose. 

But  this  matter  of  familiarizing  the  child  with  the 
printed  word  is  only  one  half  of -the  object  aimed  at 
by  the  supplementary  home  reading.  He  should 
read  that  which  interests  him.  He  should  read  that 
which  will  increase  his  power  in  making  deeper 
studies,  and  what  he  reads  should  tend  to  correct  his 
habits  of  observation.  Step  by  step  he  should  be 
initiated  into  the  scientific  method.  Too  many  ele 
mentary  books  fail  to  teach  the  scientific  method  be 
cause  they  point  out  in  an  unsystematic  way  only 
those  features  of  the  object  which  the  untutored 
senses  of  the  pupil  would  discover  at  first  glance.  It 
is  not  useful  to  tell  the  child  to  observe  a  piece  of 
chalk  and  see  that  it  is  white,  more  or  less  friable, 
and  that  it  makes  a  mark  on  a  fence  or  a  wall.  Sci 
entific  observation  goes  immediately  behind  the  facts 
which  lie  obvious  to  a  superficial  investigation. 
Above  all,  it  directs  attention  to  such  features  of  the 
object  as  relate  it  to  its  environment.  It  directs  at 
tention  to  the  features  that  have  a  causal  influence  in 
making  the  object  what  it  is  arid  in  extending  its 
effects  to  other  objects.  Science  discovers  the  recip 
rocal  action  of  objects  one  upon  another. 


xiv  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

After  the  child  has  learned  how  to  observe  what 
is  essential  in  one  class  of  objects  he  is  in  a  measure 
fitted  to  observe  for  himself  all  objects  that  resemble 
this  class.  After  he  has  learned  how  to  observe  the 
seeds  of  the  milkweed,  he  is  partially  prepared  to 
observe  the  seeds  of  the  dandelion,  the  burdock,  and 
the  thistle.  After  he  has  learned  how  to  study  the 
history  of  his  native  country,  he  has  acquired  some 
ability  to  study  the  history  of  England  and  Scotland 
or  France  or  Germany.  In  the  same  way  the  daily 
preparation  of  his  reading  lesson  at  school  aids  him 
to  read  a  story  of  Dickens  or  Walter  Scott. 

The  teacher  of  a  school  will  know  how  to  obtain 
a  small  sum  to  invest  in  supplementary  reading.  In 
a  graded  school  of  four  hundred  pupils  ten  books  of 
each  number  are  sufficient,  one  set  of  ten  books  to  be 
loaned  the  first  week  to  the  best  pupils  in  one  of  the 
rooms,  the  next  week  to  the  ten  pupils  next  in  ability. 
On  Monday  afternoon  a  discussion  should  be  held 
over  the  topics  of  interest  to  the  pupils  who  have 
read  the  book.  The  pupils  who  have  not  yet  read 
the  book  will  become  interested,  and  await  anxiously 
their  turn  for  the  loan  of  the  desired  volume.  Another 
set  of  ten  books  of  a  higher  grade  may  be  used  in  the 
same  way  in  a  room  containing  more  advanced  pupils. 
The  older  pupils  who  have  left  school,  and  also  the 
parents,  should  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to 
read  the  books  brought  home  from  school.  Thus  is 
begun  that  continuous  education  by  means  of  the  pub 
lic  library  which  is  not  limited  to  the  school  period, 
but  lasts  through  life,  W.  T.  HARRIS, 


PREFACE. 


THE  deeds  of  the  navy  of  the  United  States  have 
been  ever  glorious.  That  part  of  them  related  in  these 
pages,  covering  the  period  from  1801  to  1915,  has 
been  selected  not  because  there  was  greater  glory  in 
the  deeds  of  the  American  navy  in  the  civil  war  and 
in  the  war  with  Spain  than  in  the  earlier  days  of  the 
service,  but  chiefly  because  the  types  of  vessels  and 
of  guns  now  in  general  use  throughout  the  world 
were  begun  and  developed  in  part,  in  the  American 
civil  war.  The  armor,  the  turreted  battle  ship,  the 
swift  cruiser,  the  rifled  guns  of  to-day  were  the  direct 
outgrowth  of  the  civil  war.  The  wooden  war  ship  and 
the  smooth-bore  guns  were  doomed  as  the  result  of 
that  conflict.  The  battle  ship  of  1915  is  simply  the 
turreted  monitor  and  the  armored  battle  ship  of  1803 
combined  and  improved.  The  men  of  to-day,  though 
just  as  brave,  are  no  whit  braver  than  the  men  of  the 
Revolutionary  war  or  the  War  of  1812. 

Not  all  the  details  of  the  work  of  the  navy  in  the 
years  covered  by  this  book  are  given  here.  An  at- 


XV 


xvi  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

tempt  has  been  made  to  tell  the  story  of  the  chief 
events,  and  to  bring  out  their  significance,  especially 
for  young  readers.  The  book  is  intended  also  to  in 
terest  those  who  never  grow  old  or  feeble  in  patriotism, 
and  who  are  proud  of  American  prowess  on  the  seas, 
whether  they  be  sixteen  or  three-score  and  ten,  or 
even  older. 

The  terms  North  and  South  are  used  instead  of 
Federal  and  Confederate  because  they  are  simpler, 
and  because  they  are  in  common  use  in  speech  regard 
ing  the  civil  war. 

The  South  had  almost  no  navy  in  that  war.  So 
far  as  it  did  have  one,  it  was  creditable  to  the  zeal 
and  courage  of  those  who  fought  in  its  Avar  ships. 
What  greater  compliment  can  be  paid  to  the  South 
than  to  say  that  the  men  in  its  ships  fought  with  true 
American  bravery  to  the  last? 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEB  PAGE 

I. — THE  FAMOUS  MONITOR 1 

II. FIRST   FIGHT   BETWEEN    IRONCLADS           ....  19 

III. — FIGHTING  ALONG  THE  ATLANTIC  COAST       ...  33 

IV. — UP  THE  MISSISSIPPI — FARRAGUT  APPEARS         .        .  49 

V. — DOWN  THE    MISSISSIPPI — HELPING   THE    ARMY     .          .  72 

VI. — THE    GREAT   FIGHT   AT   MOBILE 96 

VII. — FAILURES  OFF  CHARLESTON 119 

VIII.— CAPTURE  OF  FORT  FISHER 138 

IX. — BRAVERY  IN  THE  NAVY  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR — CUSH- 

ING'S  DEEDS 151 

X. — QUEER  BOATS  USED  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR      .       .       .  173 

XI. — VESSELS  DESTROYED  BY  TORPEDOES     ....  193 

XII. — THE    GREAT    BLOCKADE — ALABAMA    AND    KEARSARGE 

FIGHT 209 

XIII. — DEWEY'S  VICTORY  AT  MANILA 231 

XIV. — THE  NAVAL  BATTLE  OF  JULY  3,  NEAR  SANTIAGO    .           .  249 

XV.— VERA  CRUZ,  1914 276 

xvii 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAOB 

Uniforms  of  men  and  officers  of  the  U.  S.  Navy  Frontispiece 

Fight  between  the  Monitor  and  the  Merrimac        .      facing  1 

Diagram  of  the  battle  of  Hampton  Roads      ....  13 

Map  of  Charleston  Harbor  and  vicinity 20 

In  the  Monitor's  turret 22 

The  Chesapeake  and  tributaries 29 

Destruction  of  the  United  States  man-of-war  Cumberland  by 

the  Confederate  ram  Merrimac 32 

The  North  Carolina  Sounds 35 

Diagram  of  the  battle  of  Port  Royal 39 

Dupont's  circle  of  fire 41 

Scene  of  the  battle  of  Roanoke  Island 43 

The  Union  navy  flotilla  co-operating  with  the  land  force  in 

the  attack  on  Fort  Macon 48 

Scene  of  the  naval  operations  in  the  Western  rivers       .        .  51 

Farragut's  fleet  going  into  action 57 

Farragut's  fleet  passing  the  forts 60 

Kennon  fires  through  his  own  bow 63 

Attack  on  Grand  Gulf 71 

Scene  of  the  naval  operations  on  the  upper  Mississippi .        .  74 

Bombardment  of  Fort  Henry 76 

Ironclads  attack  Fort  Donelson       ,        ,        .        .        .        .79 


XX  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

PAOB 

Island  No.  10  and  batteries 81 

Commander  Walke  runs  the  batteries  at  Island  No.  10  .  .83 
Turning  operation,  Vicksburg  campaign,  1863  ...  89 

Map  of  Mobile  Bay  . 97 

Deck  plan  of  the  Tennessee  and  her  appearance  after  the 

battle 99 

Diagram  of  the  battle  of  Mobile  Bay 104 

Battle  of  Mobile  Bay 107 

At  close  quarters  in  Mobile  Bay .113 

Diagram  showing  the  different  points  at  which  the  Tennessee 

was  rammed  by  Farragut's  vessels 115 

Sinking  of  the  stone  fleet  in  the  port  of  Charleston,  S.  C.  .118 

Landing  troops  from  transports 121 

Ironclads  attacking  Fort  Sumter 128 

The  Southern  ram  Atlanta 131 

United  States  monitor  towing  a  disabled  gunboat  in  a  storm 

off  Cumming's  Point  battery 133 

Interior  of  Fort  Fisher 141 

Military  insignia  of  the  United  States  navy  .  .  .  .160 
Wreck  of  the  Cristobal  Colon  on  the  beach  at  Rio  Tarquino, 

fifty  miles  west  of  Santiago  de  Cuba  ....  164 
The  David,  submarine  boat  used  by  the  South  .  .  .174 
Types  of  United  States  vessels  used  during  the  civil  war  .  182 

Battle  ship  Oregon 187 

Torpedoes  used  by  the  South 196 

United  States  cruiser  Raleigh,  which  took  part  in  the  naval 

battle  at  Manila  Bay 203 

United  States  cruiser  Baltimore 206 

Chasing  a  blockade  runner 210 

Typical  blockade  runner 212 

Heroes  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion 214 

The  city  of  Richmond  in  flames,  seen  from  the  James  River  217 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS.  xxi 

PAGE 

Southern  steamer  Florida,  sunk  at  Hampton  Roads  .  .  222 
Northern  merchantman  held  up  by  the  Southern  commerce 

destroyer  Alabama 224 

The  last  of  the  Alabama 226 

The  old  and  the  new 232 

The  wreck  of  the  Maine 235 

Admiral  Dewey's  flagship  Olympia 237 

The  cruiser  Boston 239 

Scene  on  board  the  wreck  of  the  Reina  Cristina  .  .  .  242 

Shoulder  straps  of  the  United  States  navy  ....  244 

Naval  heroes  of  the  war  with  Spain 247 

The  Cuban  navy— the  only  vessel  owned  by  the  Cubans  .  250 
Second-class  battle  ship  Texas,  which  took  part  in  the  fight 

with  Admiral  Cervera's  fleet 254 

Admiral  Sampson's  flagship  New  York 260 

Battle  ship  Massachusetts 262 

Admiral  Schley's  flagship  Brooklyn 264 

Spanish  cruiser  Maria  Teresa  after  the  battle  off  Santiago  .  267 

Battle  ship  Iowa 270 

Vizcaya  at  the  moment  of  the  explosion  of  her  magazines  .  273 


OUR   NAVY   IN   TIME   OF   WAR, 
(1861-1915.) 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   FAMOUS   MONITOR. 

ON  the  night  of  Friday,  March  7,  1862,  there  was 
steaming  south,  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  between  the 
capes  of  the  Delaware  and  the  capes  of  the  Chesa 
peake,  a  vessel  such  as  had  never  been  seen  on  the 
seas  before.  That  vessel  was  a  war  ship — the  famous 
Monitor.  There  was  a  violent  storm  during  the  night, 
and  that  the  boat  did  not  sink  was  a  great  wonder. 
She  was  a  curious  vessel.  She  was  simply  a  floating 
steam  raft,  with  a  round  iron  box  upon  it  in  the  cen 
ter  and  a  square  little  hut,  built  something  like  a 
log  house,  in  front  of  the  box.  The  smokestack 
stuck  up  back  of  the  round  box,  and  near  that  was  an 
other  pipe  that  looked  something  like  a  smokestack; 
it  was  used  to  supply  fresh  air  to  the  crew  down  in 
the  raft.  The  vessel  had  been  built  in  less  than  four 
months.  Long  before  she  started  from  ^ew  York 
harbor,  where  she  was  built,  many  persons  declared 
that  she  would  sink  as  soon  as  she  got  into  rough  water. 


OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 


;•  ,  lVT,3aG  .^To^tli  anti  .the  South  had  been  at  war  for 
nearly  a  year,  and  it  was  known  that  the  South  was 
preparing  an  ironclad  vessel  at  Norfolk  which  was 
expected  to  destroy  the  war  ships  of  the  North  that 
had  been  stationed  at  Fort  Monroe,  just  inside  Chesa 
peake  Bay,  and  only  a  few  miles  from  Norfolk.  The 
use  of  ironclads  in  war  at  that  time  was  new.  Eu 
ropean  nations  were  just  beginning  to  build  them,  but 
they  were  of  old-fashioned  models.  When  it  became 
known  that  the  South  was  to  have  an  ironclad,  the 
North  decided  that  it  also  must  have  one  to  save  its 
ships  from  destruction,  and  to  protect  its  large  cities, 
such  as  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  and  its 
many  seaport  towns,  from  being  placed  at  the  mercy 
of  a  vessel  which  could  not  be  sunk  by  any  cannon 
balls  of  those  days.  Therefore  the  Monitor  was  built. 
It  was  feared  that  the  South  would  send  some 
ships  up  the  Potomac  to  try  to  capture  Washington, 
and  the  Monitor,  before  she  was  really  finished  or 
tried  thoroughly,  was  sent  south  to  go  up  the  Chesa 
peake  and  the  Potomac,  to  protect  the  national  capital. 
She  started  out  from  Sandy  Hook,  in  New  York  har 
bor,  at  eleven  o'clock  of  the  morning  of  Thursday, 
March  6,  1862.  The  weather  was  pleasant,  the  sea 
smooth,  and  to  the  surprise  of  nearly  all  on  board, 
the  new  war  ship  got  along  very  well.  She  was  towed 
by  a  tugboat  called  the  Seth  Low,  and  was  escorted 
by  two  small  steamers.  Thursday  night  all  went  well, 


THE  FAMOUS  MONITOR.  3 

but  on  Friday  morning  the  wind  became  stronger  and 
drove  the  waves  over  the  flat  decks  of  the  Monitor  in 
such  quantities  as  to  alarm  those  inside  the  boat. 
The  hatches  over  the  openings  in  the  decks  leaked, 
and  the  water  poured  down  into  the  vessel  in  great 
quantities.  The  waves  broke  against  the  little  square 
house  on  the  deck  which  was  used  as  a  pilot  house, 
and  the  water  ran  in  through  the  peep  holes  and  sev 
eral  times  drove  the  men  at  the  wheel  away  from  their 
work  of  steering.  The  water  also  washed  against  the 
round  box  on  top  of  the  raft,  in  which  were  two  guns 
on  which  the  fate  of  the  nation  seemed  to  depend. 
The  round  box  turned  on  a  pivot,  and  was  supposed 
to  fit  tightly  to  the  deck.  Where  the  deck  and  the 
box  joined  there  had  been  packed  a  lot  of  oakum  to 
keep  the  water  from  leaking  through.  This  oakum 
was  soon  washed  away,  and  the  sea  poured  through 
the  opening  and  down  into  the  ship. 

The  vessel  pitched  and  rolled,  and  when  night 
came  it  seemed  as  if  she  would  go  down.  The  waves 
grew  higher  and  higher,  and  now  and  then,  when 
they  broke  on  her  decks,  some  of  the  water  dashed 
down  the  smokestack,  and  soon  the  boiler  fires  were 
in  danger  of  being  put  out.  That  meant,  of  course, 
that  the  ship  would  be  unable  to  remain  afloat,  be 
cause  she  eould  not  be  steered  and  the  water  could 
engulf  her  easily. 

But  there  was  more  trouble  and  danger  in  store 


4  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

for  the  brave  men  who  had  volunteered  to  take  the 
Monitor  to  sea.  The  water  broke  over  the  pipe 
through  which  fresh  air  was  drawn  down  into  the 
ship,  and  this  disabled  the  machinery  that  was  used  to 
control  the  air  supply.  The  water  was  rising  rapidly 
in  the  fire  room,  and  there  was  no  fresh  air  to  make 
the  fires  burn  brightly.  Gas  from  the  engines  and 
furnaces  was  filling  up  the  place  so  that  it  was  danger 
ous  to  stay  there.  Two  engineers  rushed  in  to  try  to 
stop  the  leaks  and  they  were  overcome  by  gas,  and 
had  to  be  dragged  out  to  save  their  lives.  The  steam 
pumps  were  started,  but  the  fires  were  so  slow  that 
steam  could  not  be  had  to  use  for  pumping.  Hand 
pumps  were  then  tried,  but  the  water  came  in  faster 
than  the  men  could  get  it  out.  Then  the  men  tried  to 
bail  out  the  boat,  but  this  was  also  a  failure,  because 
the  ship  rolled  and  tossed,  and  the  water  from  the 
buckets  was  spilled  out  before  it  could  be  passed  up 
the  ladders  and  emptied  outside. 

From  the  forward  part  of  the  ship  there  came 
dreadful  noises  throughout  this  long  night.  The  deck 
of  the  Monitor  stuck  out  a  long  distance  from  the  hull 
in  front  and  back,  and  under  the  extended  front  there 
was  a  hole  made  which  was  called  the  anchor  well. 
The  anchor  was  not  carried  in  plain  sight,  as  in  these 
days,  but  was  underneath  the  deck,  and  when  not  in 
use  it  was  pulled  up  and  fastened  in  this  hole  or  well. 
As  the  Monitor  fell  with  the  waves,  a  large  quantity 


THE  FAMOUS  MONITOR.  5 

of  air  was  caught  in  this  well  underneath  the  deck, 
and  when  it  was  compressed  by  the  water  as  the 
Monitor  plunged  underneath,  it  made  a  mournful 
noise.  Some  of  the  crew  said  that  it  sounded  like  aw 
ful  screams,  and  one  of  them  said  the  noises  were  like 
"  death  groans  of  twenty  men." 

The  men  on  the  tugboat  Seth  Low  could  be  of 
no  help  to  those  on  the  Monitor.  As  the  noises  con 
tinued  through  the  night,  and  the  ship  plunged  and 
rolled  dreadfully,  and  as  the  water  dashed  about  in 
side  the  hold,  almost  putting  out  the  fires  and  making 
the  place  dangerous  for  the  crew,  it  seemed  as  if  those 
who  declared  that  the  strange  craft  would  never  stand 
a  rough  sea  were  right,  and  that  the  men  who  were 
willing  to  risk  their  lives  in  this  vessel  must  surely 
be  drowned.  The  wind  was  what  is  called  "  off  shore," 
and  it  was  thought  that  if  the  tugboat  could  take  the 
Monitor  in  toward  the  coast  the  water  would  be 
smoother  and  the  vessel  might  live.  This  was  done, 
and  as  the  tugboat  and  the  Monitor  approached  the 
shore  it  was  found  that  the  water  was  smoother.  The 
wind  then  began  to  go  down,  but  toward  the  morn 
ing  it  became  stronger,  and  once  more  it  seemed  as 
if  the  ship  must  be  lost.  This  time  the  steering  gear 
got  out  of  order.  All  hands  were  summoned  to  fix 
it,  and  after  working  from  two  to  three  hours  it  was 
repaired,  so  that  once  more  the  ship  could  be  steered 
properly. 


6  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

When  daylight  came  on  Saturday,  March  8,  1862, 
the  sea  had  gone  down,  and  the  Monitor  was  well 
along  in  her  journey  toward  the  Chesapeake.  That 
was  one  of  the  most  fortunate  things  for  the  United 
States  that  ever  happened  in  its  history,  for  although 
one  can  not  tell  what  would  have  been  the  result  had 
the  Monitor  been  lost,  it  is  known  that  she  really 
saved  the  navy  from  destruction.  About  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  as  the  tugboat  and  the  Monitor  were 
going  south,  sounds  of  heavy  cannonading  were  heard 
across  the  waters  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  capes 
of  Chesapeake  Bay.  Soon  a  pilot  came  aboard  and 
said  that  the  South's  great  ironclad,  the  Merrimac, 
had  corne  out  that  day  and  had  gone  up  to  the  neigh 
borhood  of  Fort  Monroe,  on  the  stretch  of  waters 
where  the  James  River  meets  the  Chesapeake,  and 
which  is  called  Hampton  Roads.  He  said  the  Merri 
mac  had  destroyed  two  of  the  finest  ships  in  the  United 
States  navy,  had  killed  many  men,  and  the  next  day, 
Sunday,  March  9th,  she  would  probably  finish  up  the 
four  other  ships  of  the  North  lying  there. 

It  was  not  until  nine  o'clock  on  Saturday  night 
that  the  Monitor  reached  the  United  States  vessels  in 
Hampton  Roads,  and  learned  the  result  of  that  dread 
ful  day's  work.  The  men  on  board  the  Monitor 
began  to  prepare  at  once  for  battle  the  next  day. 
They  had  had  no  sleep  since  they  had  left  New  York, 
and  very  little  food,  and  it  was  not  known  whether 


THE  FAMOUS  MONITOR.  7 

their  ship  could  do  real  fighting.  The  news  of  the 
loss  of  the  Northern  ships  had  spread  all  over  the 
country.  President  Lincoln  and  his  cabinet  members 
were  very  much  cast  down  when  they  met  the  next 
morning.  So  serious  was  the  situation  that  Mr. 
Stanton,  the  Secretary  of  War,  said: 

"  The  Merrimac  will  change  the  whole  course  of 
the  war;  she  will  destroy  every  naval  vessel;  she  will 
lay  all  the  cities  on  the  seaboard  under  contribution. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  the  enemy  is  this  minute  on  her 
way  to  Washington,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  we 
shall  have  a  shell  or  a  cannon  ball  from  one  of  her 
guns  in  the  White  House  before  we  leave  the  room." 

But  this  was  not  to  be.  The  Monitor  was  fight 
ing,  probably  at  that  very  minute  on  that  Sunday 
morning,  and  the  South's  great  ironclad,  the  Mer 
rimac,  had  met  her  match. 

To  understand  the  nature  of  the  battle  and  what 
it  meant,  one  should  go  back  fully  a  year.  One  of 
the  greatest  naA7y  yards  in  the  United  States  was  that 
at  Norfolk.  Before  the  war  started  there  were  at  this 
yard  more  than  two  thousand  cannon,  of  which  three 
hundred  were  splendid  big  guns,  called  Dahlgren 
guns.  There  were  there  more  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  tons  of  powder  and  a  great  lot  of  supplies  for 
ships.  The  South  wanted  all  these  supplies.  The 
State  of  Virginia  had  not  yet  left  the  Union,  al 
though  other  States  had.  The  commandant  of  the 


8  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OP  WAR. 

Norfolk  Navy  Yard  was  Commodore  McCauley.  He 
was  old  and  under  the  influence  of  Southern  officers, 
who  wanted  to  get  control  of  the  cannon  and  other 
articles  to  be  used  in  war.  Several  United  States 
war  ships  were  there,  including  the  steam  frigate 
Merriniac,  the  sailing  sloops  of  war  Cumberland, 
Germantown,  and  Plymouth,  the  brig  Dolphin,  and 
six  other  sailing  ships,  including  the  famous  United 
States,  all  of  which  were  not  of  much  use.  Never 
theless,  the  value  of  the  ships  and  stores  was  estimated 
at  fully  five  million  dollars. 

The  Navy  Department  became  very  anxious  over 
the  property  there,  and  it  was  decided  to  try  to  get  the 
frigate  Merrimac  away  from  the  yard.  The  machin 
ery  of  the  vessel  was  put  in  order,  steam  was  raised, 
and  the  ship  was  ready  finally  to  sail  away,  but  Com 
modore  McCauley  decided  to  hold  the  vessel  until  the 
next  morning.  This  was  in  the  latter  part  of  April, 
1861.  The  next  morning  he  decided  to  hold  the  ves 
sel  a  little  longer,  because  he  did  not  want  to  offend 
the  people  of  Virginia  by  sending  the  ship  away. 
Then  there  arrived  from  Washington  the  steamer 
Pawnee,  under  Captain  Paulding,  with  a  regiment  of 
Massachusetts  soldiers  on  board.  Paulding  had  orders 
to  take  the  Merrimac  and  other  ships  away  from  the 
yard  if  he  could,  and  if  he  could  not,  to  destroy  the 
ships  and  as  much  of  the  property  as  he  could.  South 
ern  troops  had  been  forming  about  Norfolk  as  if  about 


THE  FAMOUS  MONITOR.  9 

to  attack,  and  there  was  nothing  to  be  done  except  to 
destroy  the  ships  and  property.  The  Pawnee  did  man 
age  to  tow  the  Cumberland  away  from  the  yard.  One 
evening  was  spent  in  preparations  to  destroy  the  ships 
and  buildings.  Commodore  McCauley  went  to  bed 
ignorant  of  the  attempt  that  was  to  be  made.  He 
thought  the  Pawnee  had  come  there  to  protect  the 
place.  A  little  after  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  the 
signal  was  fired,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  ships  and 
other  property  were  in  flames.  The  dry  dock  was 
not  destroyed,  because  the  fuse  did  not  light  the  pow 
der  that  had  been  placed  in  it.  The  magazine  with 
its  shells  and  powder  had  already  been  seized  by  the 
Southern  men,  and  in  the  hurry  of  setting  fire  to  the 
yard  and  of  getting  away  there  was  little  burned  be 
yond  the  ships  and  several  buildings. 

The  vast  stores  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  South. 
The  Merrimac  and  other  vessels  burned  to  the  water's 
edge  and  sunk.  It  was  found  afterward  that  the  en 
gines  of  the  Merrimac  were  not  damaged  seriously, 
and  it  was  because  of  that  fact  that  the  South  and 
Korth  met  in  the  first  battle  between  ironclads  with 
the  Monitor  on  one  side  and  the  Merrimac  on  the 
other,  on  March  9,  1862,  nearly  a  year  later.  The 
South  had  a  very  able  naval  officer,  named  John  M. 
Brooke,  who  was  formerly  a  lieutenant  in  the  United 
States  navy.  He  was  ordered  to  prepare  plans  for  an 
ironclad.  The  South  had  very  little  iron  and  few 


10  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

factories,  and  it  was  a  hard  task  to  build  such  a  vessel. 
The  wreck  of  the  Merrimac  was  raised,  and  it  was 
found  that  the  engines  were  uninjured.  That  was  a 
piece  of  good  fortune  for  the  South.  Its  men  built  on 
the  hull  of  the  ship  a  sort  of  house,  with  sloping  sides 
of  pine  and  oak,  two  feet  thick.  Iron  plating,  four 
inches  thick,  covered  the  outside.  There  was  a  plat 
ing  of  iron  one  inch  thick  along  the  hull,  on  which 
this  deck  house  rested.  This  iron  plating  extended 
two  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  water.  There  were 
windows  in  the  deck  house  through  which  the  vessel's 
ten  guns  could  fire.  Six  of  these  guns  were  nine- 
inch  Dahlgrens,  and  four  were  rifles  designed  by 
Lieutenant  Brooke,  which  were  said  to  be  the  best 
guns  known  at  that  time. 

The  Merrimac  drew  twenty-two  feet  of  water,  had 
a  crew  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  men,  and  was 
very  hard  to  steer.  The  Southerners  called  her  the 
Virginia,  but  the  name  Merrimac  always  clung  to 
her.  The  work  of  making  her  into  an  ironclad  be 
gan  in  June,  1861.  At  this  time  the  North  had  done 
nothing  about  building  an  iron  war  ship.  In  August 
Congress  set  aside  fifteen  hundred  thousand  dollars 
for  this  work.  It  was  not  until  September  8th  that  a 
decision  was  made  as  to  what  to  do  with  this  money. 
A  board  of  naval  officers  decided  that  three  ships 
should  be  built,  and  one  of  them  should  be  an  iron 
clad  with  a  revolving  turret,  according  to  a  design 


THE  FAMOUS  MONITOR.  11 

suggested  by  John  Ericsson,  a  noted  Swedish  inven 
tor,  who  had  come  to  this  country  to  live.  It  was  not 
until  October  4,  1861,  that  the  contract  for  the  Moni 
tor  was  made.  She  was  to  be  called  the  Monitor  to 
warn  the  South  that  she  was  to  be  dreaded,  and  also 
to  give  notice  to  England  that  her  navy  was  really  out 
of  date,  and  that  a  great  change  was  about  to  take 
place  in  war  ships. 

Three  gangs  of  men  worked  eight  hours  a  day 
each  on  the  ship,  and  she  was  launched  on  January 
30,  1862.  The  hull  was  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
feet  long,  thirty-six  feet  wide,  and  twelve  feet  deep, 
and  over  the  hull  was  laid  a  superstructure  which  ex 
tended  beyond  and  made  a  vessel  one  hundred  and 
seventy-two  feet  long  and  forty-one  and  a  half  feet 
wide.  The  deck  stuck  out  over  the  hull  as  the  deck 
of  a  ferryboat  does  in  these  days.  The  deck  was  to  be 
only  one  foot  above  the  water  line.  In  the  center  of 
the  ship  rose  the  turret.  It  was  nine  feet  high,  twen 
ty  feet  in  diameter,  and  eight  inches  thick.  The 
thickness  was  made  up  of  eight  one-inch  iron  plates. 
Inside  were  two  eleven-inch  smooth-bore  guns.  There 
were  iron  shutters  for  the  portholes  to  keep  out  shot 
while  the  guns  were  being  loaded.  There  was  a  thick 
ness  of  five  inches  of  iron  along  the  sides  of  the  low 
deck.  The  smokestack  was  arranged  to  be  taken 
down  while  the  vessel  was  in  action.  In  the  front 

of  the  ship  was  the  square  pilot  house,  with  scarcely 
3 


12  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

room  .enough  for  three  men  to  stand  in  it.  The  guns 
could  not  be  shot  in  the  direction  of  the  pilot  house, 
because  the  shells  would  kill  those  inside  and  sweep 
it  away.  There  was  only  a  speaking-tube  connection 
between  the  pilot  house  and  the  turret. 

Word  reached  the  North  that  the  Merrimac  was 
nearly  done,  and  on  February  19th  the  Monitor  was 
sent  hurriedly  from  the  place  in  Greenpoint  where 
she  was  built  to  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard;  a  week 
later  she  was  put  into  commission  and  tried  in  the 
East  River.  Her  steering  gear  was  out  of  order,  how 
ever,  and  it  was  not  known  whether  she  would  be  a 
success.  After  another  week  the  vessel  went  as  far 
as  Sandy  Hook  under  her  own  steam.  Then  came 
orders  to  hurry  her  South,  and  on  Thursday,  March 
6th,  as  has  been  told,  she  started  on  her  perilous  jour 
ney.  The  Monitor  was  under  command  of  Lieuten 
ant  John  Worden,  who  had  done  some  notable  work 
at  Pensacola  earlier  in  the  war,  and  had  been  im 
prisoned  at  Montgomery,  Ala.,  because  of  it.  He 
was  really  sick  when  he  volunteered  and  was  selected 
to  command  the  Monitor.  Lieutenant  S.  Dana 
Greene  volunteered  to  go  with  him  as  executive 
officer.  Assistant-Engineer  Isaac  Newton  was  at  the 
head  of  the  four  engineers,  and  Chief-Engineer  A.  C. 
Stimers  was  sent  along  to  watch  the  machinery  and  to 
make  a  report  about  it.  The  crew  consisted  of  fifty- 
eight  men. 


THE  FAMOUS  MONITOR. 


13 


Meanwhile  the  Southern  men  at  Xorfolk  were  hur 
rying  up  the  Merrimac.  When  she  started  out  from 
Norfolk  on  the  morning  of  March  8,  1862,  the  work 
men  were  still  busy  on  her,  and  some  of  them  were 


D4AORAM  OF  THE 
BATTLE  OF  HAMPTON  ROADS 

The  dotted  lines  enclose  fhe  channel  u>h«re 
there  are  18  or  more  feet  of  water. 


put  ashore  after  the  vessel  had  got  in  motion.  She  was 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Franklin  Buchanan, 
formerly  of  the  United  States  navy,  and  a  very  brave 
man.  She  had  a  green  crew  on  her,  and  had  never 


14  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

steamed  a  mile  after  being  fixed  over,  and  few  of 
the  officers  had  ever  met  one  another.  She  could  go 
only  about  four  knots  an  hour,  and  when  she  started 
down  the  river  from  .Norfolk  to  Hampton  Koads  on 
that  Saturday  morning  to  destroy  the  Northern  fleet, 
there  was  very  little  fear  on  those  ships  that  anything 
serious  would  happen.  At  anchor  in  Hampton  Roads 
near  each  other  and  off  Newport  News  were  the  frig 
ate  Congress,  which  carried  fifty  guns,  and  the  sloop 
of  war  Cumberland,  carrying  twenty-four  guns, 
which  the  Pawnee  had  saved  from  the  Norfolk  Navy 
Yard  nearly  a  year  before.  Farther  down  Hampton 
Roads,  toward  Fort  Monroe  on  the  Chesapeake  Bay, 
were  the  old  frigate  St.  Lawrence  and  the  two  mod 
ern  steam  frigates,  Roanoke  and  Minnesota,  former 
sister  ships  to  the  Merrimac.  The  Northern  officers 
had  begun  to  think  the  Merrimac  was  a  failure,  and 
when  some  one  saw  the  smoke  coming  down  the 
river,  he  cried  out: 

"  Here  comes  that  thing !  " 

It  was  a  beautiful  morning,  and  as  the  Merrimac, 
escorted  by  several  small  gunboats,  came  out  in 
Hampton  Roads,  all  the  Northern  ships  cleared  for 
action  and  made  preparations  for  a  fight.  The  Con 
gress  and  Cumberland  were  sailing  ships  and  re 
mained  anchored.  The  Merrimac  came  on  slowly  and 
steadily,  and  about  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the 
Congress  and  the  Cumberland  began  to  shoot  at  her 


THE  FAMOUS  MONITOR.  15 

at  long  range.  The  Northern  batteries  on  shore  also 
took  part,  but  it  was  seen  that  the  shells  did  no  dam 
age  whatever,  and  simply  glanced  off  the  sides  of  this 
new  monster  of  war.  When  the  Merrimac  was  very 
close  to  the  two  ships,  the  bow  port  of  the  Merrimac 
was  opened  and  she  fired  at  the  Cumberland.  The 
shot  killed  or  wounded  most  of  the  crew  at  one  of 
the  Cumberland's  guns  near  the  stern.  Then  the 
Merrimac  started  for  the  Congress.  Captain  Buch 
anan,  of  the  Merrimac,  had  a  brother  who  was  pay 
master  on  the  Congress,  but  that  made  no  difference  in 
the  captain's  desire  to  sink  the  Congress.  He  fired 
a  broadside  into  her  which  did  great  damage,  killing 
a  large  number  of  men.  Then  the  Merrimac  made  for 
the  Cumberland,  so  as  to  sink  her  by  ramming.  The 
men  on  the  Congress,  thinking  that  the  Merrimac  had 
been  afraid  to  attack  them  further,  sprang  into  the 
rigging  and  cheered  as  the  ironclad  seemed  to  run 
away;  but  it  was  the  wrong  time  to  cheer.  The  Cum 
berland  shot  at  the  Merrimac  in  vain.  The  Merrimac 
struck  the  Cumberland  a  terrific  blow  in  the  forward 
part  of  the  ship,  after  which  the  Merrimac  backed  off, 
leaving  part  of  her  prow  sticking  in  the  Cumberland. 
The  Cumberland  tipped  far  over  and  then  righted 
herself,  but  the  blow  was  mortal.  Water  rushed  in 
the  open  sides  of  the  ship  and  she  was  doomed.  The 
brave  crew  kept  fighting  desperately.  Every  time  the 
Merrimac  fired  into  her  a  dozen  or  more  of  the  men 


16  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

at  the  guns  would  be  killed.  The  Merrimac  steamed 
up  close  beside  her  again,  and  her  officers  called  upon 
Lieutenant  George  W.  Morris,  who  was  in  command 
of  the  Cumberland  on  that  day,  in  the  absence  of 
Captain  Radford,  to  surrender  and  save  a  great  loss 
of  life.  Morris  replied: 

"Never!     I'll  sink  alongside." 

Ammunition  was  brought  up  to  the  dry  places 
on  deck,  the  wounded  were  brought  up  also,  and  as 
the  ship  sank  slowly  the  men  kicked  off  their  shoes, 
threw  away  their  extra  clothing,  and  fired  the  cannon 
until  the  water  fairly  engulfed  them  all.  Not  until  it 
was  seen  that  the  ship  would  go  down  within  five  min 
utes  did  some  of  those  who  had  survived  in  the  fight 
take  to  the  boats,  dragging  the  wounded  with  them. 

There  were  three  hundred  and  seventy-six  men 
on  board  of  the  Cumberland  when  that  fight  began, 
,and  of  those  one  hundred  and  seventeen  were  lost  and 
twenty-three  were  missing.  After  the  vessel  went 
down  her  masts  stuck  above  the  water,  and  the  old 
flag  floated  in  plain  sight. 

Buchanan  then  turned  again  toward  the  Congress. 
Lieutenant  Joseph  B.  Smith  was  in  command  of  that 
vessel.  He  saw  the  fate  of  the  Cumberland,  and  he 
ran  his  boat  aground  so  that  the  Merrimac  could  not 
ram  her.  The  Merrimac  came  within  two  hundred 
yards  of  the  stern  of  the  Congress,  where  broadside 
after  broadside  was  poured  into  her,  to  which  the 


THE  FAMOUS  MONITOR.  17 

stranded  ship  could  reply  with  only  two  small  guns. 
Soon  Lieutenant  Smith  was  killed.  Every  time  a 
shot  from  the  Merrimac  struck  the  vessel  there  was 
awful  slaughter.  After  keeping  up  the  fight  for  more 
than  an  hour,  Lieutenant  Pendergrast,  who  was  then 
in  command,  hoisted  a  white  flag  and  surrendered. 
Some  of  the  batteries  on  the  shore  fired  on  the  South 
ern  men  who  were  taking  charge  of  the  vessel  after  the 
surrender.  It  was  a  violation  of  the  rules  of  war,  but 
it  was  done  through  a  mistake.  The  Merrimac  replied 
by  recalling  her  men  and  by  firing  hot  shot  into  the 
Congress,  setting  her  on  fire.  Captain  Buchanan,  of 
the  Merrimac,  was  wounded  by  a  rifle  ball  from  shore 
just  before  this  occurred. 

While  the  fights  between  the  Merrimac  and  the 
Cumberland  and  the  Congress  were  going  on,  the 
other  Northern  vessels,  the  Minnesota,  Roanoke,  and 
St.  Lawrence,  had  tried  to  go  to  the  aid  of  the  two 
Northern  ships,  but  they  all  ran  aground.  It  was  five 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  when  the  Congress  was  set 
afire,  the  tide  was  running  low,  and  it  was  seen  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  the  Merrimac  to  do  much 
more  work  that  day.  She  turned  away  and  went  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river  leading  to  Xorfolk,  satisfied  with 
the  day's  work,  and  willing  to  leave  the  task  of  finish 
ing  up  the  other  vessels  at  her  leisure  the  next  day. 
Two  of  her  men  had  been  killed  by  a  shot  that  had  en 
tered  a  porthole,  and  eight  had  been  wounded.  The 


18  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME   OF  WAR. 

Congress  had  had  one  hundred  and  thirty  killed  out  of 
her  crew  of  four  hundred  and  thirty-four  men.  Alto 
gether  the  loss  of  the  North  was  two  hundred  and  fifty 
men  killed  and  drowned,  in  addition  to  the  two  ships, 
Cumberland  and  Congress. 

The  Congress  burned  far  into  the  night,  and  the 
flames  lit  up  the  harbor  as  the  little  Monitor,  which 
was  called  "  a  cheese  box  on  a  raft,"  steamed  in. 
Worden,  the  commander  of  the  Monitor,  went  to  the 
Roanoke  to  ask  what  he  should  do  the  next  day — 
whether  to  go  to  Washington,  according  to  orders,  or 
to  stay  and  fight  the  Merrimac.  Flag-Officer  Mar- 
ston  told  him  to  stay  and  fight,  and  disobey  his  orders. 
It  was  most  fortunate  that  he  did  stay.  That  night 
was  probably  the  darkest  night  for  the  North  of  the 
entire  civil  war.  The  next  day,  when  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  Mr.  Gideon  Welles,  went  to  church,  he  met 
Captain  Joseph  Smith,  the  father  of  Lieutenant 
Smith,  who  had  been  killed  on  the  Congress.  Mr. 
Welles  told  Captain  Smith  that  the  Congress  had  been 
lost.  Captain  Smith  replied: 

"  Then  Joe  is  dead." 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  said  that  no  list  of  the 
killed  and  wounded  had  arrived,  and  he  hoped  that 
Lieutenant  Smith  was  safe. 

Captain  Smith  replied: 

"  Oh  no,  you  don't  know  Joe  as  I  know  him;  he 
never  would  surrender  his  ship." 


CHAPTER  II. 

FIRST    FIGHT    BETWEEN    IRONCLADS. 

BRIGHT  and  early  on  Sunday  morning,  March  9, 
1862,  the  Merrimac  was  ready  to  finish  up  the  work 
of  destroying  the  Northern  fleet.  Lieutenant  Catesby 
Jones  was  now  in  command  of  the  vessel.  The  night 
before  he  and  his  men  had  seen  the  Monitor  steam  up 
beside  the  Minnesota  and  anchor.  They  were  not 
alarmed  at  the  appearance  of  the  Xorth's  ironclad, 
for  such  they  knew  it  to  be.  At  half  past  seven 
o'clock  in  the  morning  the  Merrimac  started  out  on 
her  day's  work.  Her  commander  intended  to  ignore 
the  Monitor,  and  he  fired  his  first  shot  at  the  Minne 
sota,  doing  some  damage  to  her.  The  Monitor  began 
to  move  as  soon  as  the  Merrimac  was  seen  coming  out 
to  renew  the  fight.  Lieutenant  Worden  wras  in  the 
pilot  house,  and  Greene  and  Stimers  with  sixteen  men 
were  in  the  turret.  The  Monitor  ran  straight  in  front 
of  the  Merrimac,  and  the  Merrimac  fired  one  of  her 
seven-inch  guns,  but  the  Monitor  was  so  low  in  the 
water  and  the  turret  and  pilot  house  were  so  small  that 

the  Monitor  was  not  hit.     The  Monitor  kept  going 

19 


Map  of  Charleston  harbor  and  vicinity. 


FIRST  FIGHT  BETWEEN  IRONCLADS.  21 

closer,  and  when  very  near  the  Merrhnac  fired  her  two 
eleven-inch  guns.  The  cannon  balls  struck  the  Merri 
mac  on  the  sloping  deck  house  and  glanced  off,  doing 
no  harm.  Then  the  Merrimac  turned  her  side  to  the 
Monitor  and  fired  a  broadside  against  her.  This  time 
some  of  the  cannon  balls  struck  the  turret. 

Right  there  occurred  the  great  test  of  the  Monitor. 
The  men  inside  the  turret  heard  the  balls  smash 
against  it,  and  to  their  great  relief  found  that  no  dam 
age  was  done.  At  once  their  spirits  rose.  There  was 
not  a  spare  man  in  the  crew.  When  they  saw  that 
the  turret  would  turn,  they  felt  not  only  safe,  but 
believed  they  would  win  the  fight.  The  Merrimac 
poured  shot  after  shot  at  the  Monitor,  most  of  which 
passed  over  her,  but  many  of  which  struck  her.  Near 
ly  every  shot  that  the  Monitor  fired  seemed  to  hit  the 
Merrimac,  but  they  did  little  damage.  The  Monitor 
fired  solid  shot,  and  the  Merrimac  fired  shells.  It  is 
agreed  now  that  had  the  Merrimac  fired  solid  shot,  or 
had  the  Monitor  used  more  powder  in  her  guns,  each 
of  the  vessels  might  have  been  damaged  a  great  deal. 
The  Monitor  could  fire  about  once  in  seven  minutes; 
the  Merrimac  could  fire  only  once  in  about  fifteen 
minutes. 

So  these  two  strange  ships  of  war  went  on  shoot 
ing  at  each  other  and  turning  and  twisting  about  in 
the  waters  of  Hampton  Roads.  The  Monitor  could 
go  nearly  twice  as  fast  as  the  Merrimac,  and  thus  had 


FIRST  FIGHT   BETWEEN  IliONCLADS.  23 

the  advantage  in  moving  about.  Soon  the  Monitor 
began  to  have  difficulty  in  firing  her  guns.  Chalk 
marks  on  the  floor  which  showed  the  direction  of  the 
bow  and  stern  were  soon  wiped  out,  and  the  place  was 
filled  with  smoke  and  gases.  The  speaking  tube  be 
tween  the  pilot  house  and  turret  was  shot  away,  and 
orders  had  to  be  passed  by  word  of  mouth.  A  lands 
man  mixed  them  up  in  repeating  them,  and  this  made 
more  confusion.  The  turret  machinery  did  not  work 
properly.  It  was  hard  to  start  the  turret  in  motion, 
and  harder  still  to  stop  it.  So  the  men  inside  just 
loaded  up  the  guns,  opened  the  portholes,  started 
the  turret  going,  and  when  the  Merrimac  came  in 
sight  through  the  smoke  they  fired  the  guns  as  the 
turret  was  turning. 

The  Monitor  did  so  little  damage  in  her  shooting, 
that  Lieutenant  Worclen  decided  to  ram  the  Merri 
mac.  lie  wanted  to  strike  her  rudder  and  disable  her. 
He  missed  the  rudder  by  about  two  feet.  The  Merri 
mac  got  tired  of  useless  shooting  also,  and  started  to 
go  to  fight  the  Minnesota.  She  ran  aground,  however, 
but  after  awhile  got  off  again.  The  Monitor  could  go 
where  the  Merrimac  could  not,  because  she  drew  less 
water,  and  while  the  Merrimac  was  fast  in  the  mud, 
the  Monitor  kept  moving  around  her,  shooting  at  her 
and  worrying  her  officers.  When  the  Merrimac  got 
off  the  mud  bank  her  commander,  Lieutenant  Jones, 
thought  lie  would  try  to  sink  the  Monitor  by  ramming 


24  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF   WAR. 

her.  Lieutenant  AVorderi  saw  what  he  was  trying  to 
do  and  shifted  the  Monitor  so  that  only  a  glancing 
blow  was  struck.  Jones  called  for  men  to  board 
the  Monitor  to  try  to  capture  her,  but  before  they 
could  get  ready  the  Monitor  slid  off,  and,  as  one  of  the 
Merrimac's  officers  said  afterward,  "  was  as  safe  as  if 
she  had  gone  to  the  top  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Moun 
tains." 

The  ammunition  in  the  turret  of  the  Monitor  was 
now  so  low  that  she  went  off  into  shoal  water  to  re 
new  her  supply.  She  was  such  a  crude  affair  that  she 
could  not  be  fought  when  the  men  were  renewing  the 
ammunition.  The  turret  had  to  remain  stationary  at 
such  a  time,  while  powder  and  shot  were  being 
brought  through  a  narrow  hatchway  in  the  floor.  It 
required  fifteen  minutes  to  do  this  work.  The  Mer 
rimac's  officers  thought  the  Monitor  had  given  up  the 
fight,  but  they  were  so  interested  in  watching  her  that 
they  did  not  attempt  to  go  after  the  other  ships  during 
this  time.  To  their  surprise,  at  about  11.30  o'clock 
the  Monitor  came  toward  them  again. 

It  was  soon  after  this  that  a  serious  accident  oc 
curred  to  Lieutenant  Worden  in  the  Monitor's  pilot 
house.  One  of  the  Merrimac's  shells  struck  the  shut 
ter  of  the  peephole  through  which  Worden  was  look 
ing.  The  shell  burst,  and  powder  and  shreds  of  iron 
filled  TTorden's  eyes  and  made  him  nearly  uncon 
scious.  It  also  injured  the  other  men  in  the  pilot 


FIRST   FIGHT  BETWEEN  IRONCLADS.  25 

house.  For  fifteen  minutes  (Jreene,  in  the  turret,  re 
ceived  no  orders  from  Worden,  and  the  Monitor  was 
drifting  about  helplessly.  (Jreene  went  to  the  pilot 
house  to  see  what  was  the  trouble,  and  found  Warden 
blinded  and  bleeding  terribly.  He  took  Worden  be 
low,  and  placed  him  on  a  sofa.  "Warden  asked  how 
the  fight  was  going,  and  when  he  was  told  said: 
"  Then  I  die  happy."  But  he  did  not  die,  although 
it  was  a  long  time  before  he  recovered.  Greene  then 
went  into  the  pilot  house  and  took  charge  of  the 
Monitor. 

But  the  fight  was  nearly  over.  Lieutenant  Jones 
of  the  Merrimac  noticed  that  his  men  did  not  fire  as 
often  as  they  could,  and  he  asked  why  they  did  not 
shoot  more.  They  said  that  ammunition  was  getting 
scarce,  and  they  might  as  well  snap  their  fingers  at  the 
Monitor  as  shoot  at  her,  and  so  they  decided  to  save 
their  powder  and  shot.  The  Merrimac  was  leaking  a 
little  in  the  place  where  the  Monitor  had  struck  her, 
and  as  it  was  evident  that  the  Monitor  was  a  match 
for  her,  she  gradually  drew  off  and  finally  went  back 
to  Norfolk,  leaving  the  Monitor  in  control  of  the 
scene  of  battle.  The  Monitor  had  fired  forty-one 
shots,  had  been  hit  twenty-two  times,  nine  of  which 
were  on  the  turret  and  two  on  the  pilot  house.  Tn 
the  two  days'  fight  the  Merrimac  had  been  hit  ninety- 
seven  times.  One  of  the  shots  of  the  Monitor  had 
nearly  passed  through  her  side,  and  had  a  second  one 


26  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

struck  in  the  same  place  it  probably  would  have 
gone  through.  The  wooden  backing  to  her  armor 
was  broken  in  several  places,  but  no  serious  damage 
had  been  done. 

It  was  a  drawn  battle,  but  really  the  Monitor  had 
won,  because  she  saved  the  other  ships  of  the  North 
ern  side,  and  the  Merrimac  had  withdrawn  from  the 
field.  Not  a  man  had  been  killed  on  either  boat  dur 
ing  the  fight,  and  neither  boat  was  damaged  so  that 
she  could  not  have  continued  fighting.  Nevertheless, 
it  was  the  most  important  naval  battle  fought  in 
modern  times.  It  proved  that  modern  war  ships  must 
have  turrets  for  their  big  guns,  and  also  that  they 
must  have  as  thick  armor  as  they  can  carry.  From 
that  very  day  war  ships  have  been  developed  along 
these  lines  all  over  the  world.  The  United  States, 
therefore,  had  led  the  way  once  more  in  naval  fight 
ing. 

Twice  after  this  were  the  Monitor  and  Merrimac 
close  enough  to  each  other  to  fight,  but  no  shots  were 
exchanged.  On  April  llth,  the  Merrimac,  with  six 
gunboats,  came  out  to  fight,  but  the  Monitor  declined 
battle.  Tier  commander  had  orders  to  take  no 
chances,  and  after  the  gunboats  which  were  with  the 
Merrimac  had  captured  three  Northern  supply  boats 
that  were  lying  near  the  Northern  fleet,  the  Merrimac 
and  her  escorts  and  prizes  went  back  to  Norfolk.  On 
May  8th  the  Merrimac  came  down  the  river  again, 


FIRST  FIGHT  BETWEEN  IRONCLADS.  27 

and  tliis  time  the  Monitor  was  ready  for  her,  but  she 
declined  battle  and  went  back. 

It  was  soon  seen  that  Norfolk  would  be  captured 
by  the  Northern  troops.  The  Southern  men  took  as 
many  of  the  guns  and  as  much  of  stores  out  of  the 
Merrimac  as  they  could,  so  as  to  lighten  her  and  get 
her  over  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the  James  River. 
They  wanted  to  use  the  vessel  in  protecting  Rich 
mond,  the  Southern  capital.  It  was  found,  however, 
that  it  would  be  impossible  to  get  her  up  the  river, 
and  so  on  May  llth  they  blew  her  up,  destroying  her 
completely.  The  Northern  men,  therefore,  did  not 
get  possession  of  her. 

But  the  crew  of  the  Merrimac  were  still  to  have 
another  fight  with  the  crew  of  the  Monitor.  Four 
days  later,  on  May  15th,  the  Monitor,  with  the  Ga 
lena,  Port  Royal,  and  Naugatuck,  went  up  the  James 
River,  and  had  a  fight  with  the  Southern  batteries 
which  were  established  at  Drewry's  Bluff.  The  battle 
lasted  four  hours,  and  thirteen  men  were  killed  and 
fourteen  wounded  on  the  Northern  ships,  but  none 
of  the  crew  on  the  Monitor  was  injured.  The  crew 
of  the  Merrimac  fought  on  land  behind  some  of  the 
guns  that  had  been  used  on  their  vessel. 

The  fighting  days  of  the  Monitor  were  now  over. 
She  remained  at  Hampton  Roads  until  December  29, 
1862,  when,  in  tow  of  the  steamer  Rhode  Island,  she 
started  south  for  Beaufort,  N.  (1,  to  help  in  the 


28  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

operations  near  Hatteras  Island.  She  encountered  a 
violent  gale  off  Cape  Hatteras,  and  on  the  night  of 
December  30th  it  was  'seen  that  she  must  sink.  The 
Rhode  Island's  men  rescued  nearly  all  the  crew  at 
great  risk  to  their  own  lives.  Sixteen  of  the  Monitor's 
crew,  who,  it  is  said,  were  "  dazed  and  terrified,"  re 
fused  to  leave  the  turret,  and  went  down  with  the 
ship.  Thus  ended  the  career  of  a  noble  vessel  and  the 
careers  of  some  of  her  noble  crew. 

Besides  saving  the  Northern  ships  the  Monitor 
had  done  another  great  work;  she  had  preserved  the 
control  of  the  Chesapeake  to  the  North,  and  had  also 
kept  the  Potomac  open,  so  that  Washington  should 
not  be  attacked  by  any  vessel  that  the  South  might 
build.  That  was  one  of  the  first  and  important  things 
that  the  navy  had  to  do  in  the  long  fight  with  the 
South.  Washington  must  be  protected,  and  the  ap 
proaches  to  it  by  water  must  be  kept  in  the  control  of 
the  North.  It  was  a  long  and  hard  task  to  make 
the  South  abandon  the  Potomac  River  as  the  north 
ern  frontier  of  its  operations.  It  was  on  May  31, 
1861,  nearly  a  year  before1  the  Monitor  arrived  south, 
that  the  first  fight  occurred  along  the  Potomac  in  the 
effort  to  drive  the  Southern  forces  away  from  Wash 
ington.  It  might  also  be  called  the  first  naval  bat 
tle  of  the  war. 

The  Southern  men  had  built  a  land  battery  at 
Acquia  Creek,  almost  within  sight  of  Washington, 


FIRST  FIGHT  BETWEEN  IRONCLADS. 


29 


and  Flag-Officer  James  H.  Ward  was  ordered  to  go 
down  and  destroy  the  works.  He  had  three  small 
vessels,  the  Freeborn,  Anacostia,  arid  Resolute.  The 


The  Chesapeake  and  tributaries. 


30  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

firing  began  at  10.30  o'clock  at  night.  The  Northern 
boats  had  seven  small  guns  on  them,  and  the  South 
ern  men  had  thirteen  guns,  somewhat  larger  than  those 
on  the  boats,  in  the  land  battery.  The  firing  was  kept 
up  for  a  large  part  of  the  night  and  was  renewed  the 
next  day,  lasting  five  hours.  ~No  one  was  killed.  One 
Southern  man  lost  a  finger,  and  Captain  S.  C.  Rowan, 
who  with  the  Pawnee  had  joined  Flag-Officer  Ward, 
received  a  scratch  on  the  face  from  a  splinter.  Neither 
side  won  a  victory. 

On  June  27,  1861,  Ward,  with  the  Freeborn,  Re 
liance,  and  Pawnee,  went  down  to  Matthias  Point  to 
attack  some  earthworks  there.  The  firing  began  about 
nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  Flag-Officer  Ward 
was  killed.  He  was  the  first  officer  of  high  rank  in  the 
navy  to  lose  his  life  in  the  civil  war. 

All  during  that  summer  and  the  next  fall  the 
Northern  ships  patrolled  the  Potomac.  They  had 
frequent  engagements  with  Southern  forces  along  the 
banks.  Northern  men  were  killed  and  wounded  sev 
eral  times,  but  little  by  little  the  Southern  men  were 
driven  away,  and  when  the  Monitor  had  opened  the 
Chesapeake  and  the  Potomac  to  Northern  ships,  the 
Southern  forces  had  to  fall  back  and  no  longer 
threaten  the  national  capital  by  water. 

It  was  the  Monitor,  therefore,  that  helped  to  make 
Washington  safe,  and  as  we  take  final  leave  of  her  and 
her  brave  crew,  it  should  be  a  pleasure  to  read  this 


FIRST  FIGHT  BETWEEN  IRONCLADS.  31 

letter,  which  the  crew  sent  to  Worden  in  Washington, 
where  he  had  gone  to  restore  his  health,  and  which, 
with  all  its  bad  grammar,  shows  better  than  anything 
else  the  kind  of  men  who  served  their  country  so  well 
on  that  vessel : 

DEAR  AND  HONORED  CAPTAIN. 

DEAR  SIR:  These  few  lines  is  from  the  crew  of 
the  Monitor,  with  their  kindest  love  to  you  their 
Honored  Captain,  hoping  to  God  that  they  will  have 
the  pleasure  of  welcoming  you  back  to  us  again  soon, 
for  we  are  all  ready  able  and  willing  to  meet  Death 
or  anything  else,  only  give  us  back  our  Captain  again. 
Dear  Captain,  we  have  got  your  pilot  house  fixed  and 
all  ready  for  you  when  you  get  well  again;  and  we 
all  sincerely  hope  that  soon  we  will  have  the  pleasure 
of  welcoming  you  back  to  it.  We  are  waiting  very 
patiently  to  engage  our  Antagonist  if  we  could  only 
get  a  chance  to  do  so.  The  last  time  she  came  out  we 
ail  thought  we  would  have  the  Pleasure  of  sinking 
her.  But  we  all  got  disappointed,  for  we  did  not 
fire  one  shot  and  the  Norfolk  papers  says  we  are  cow 
ards  in  the  Monitor — and  all  we  want  is  a  chance  to 
show  them  where  it  lies  with  you  for  our  Captain 
We  can  teach  them  who  is  cowards.  But  there  is  a 
great  deal  that  we  would  like  to  write  you  but  we 
think  you  will  soon  be  with  us  again  yourself.  But 
we  all  join  in  with  our  kindest  love  to  you,  hoping 
that  God  will  restore  you  to  us  again  and  hoping 
that  your  sufferings  is  at  an  end  now,  and  we  are 
all  so  glad  to  hear  that  your  eyesight  will  be  spaired  to 


32 


OUR  NAVY  IN   TIME   OF   WAR. 


you  again.  We  would  wish  to  write  more  to  you  if 
we  have  your  kind  Permission  to  do  so  but  at  pres 
ent  we  all  conclude  by  tendering  to  you  our  kindest 
Love  and  affection,  to  our  Dear  and  Honored  Cap 
tain. 

We  remain  untill  Death  your  Affectionate  Crew 

THE  MONITOR  BOYS. 


Destruction  of  the  United  States  man-of-war  Cumberland 
by  the  Confederate  ram  Merrimac. 


CHAPTER   III. 

FIGHTING    ALONG    THE    ATLANTIC    COAST. 

WHEN  the  civil  war  began,  the  United  States  had 
sixty-nine  ships  fit  for  service.  The  home  squadron, 
however,  was  made  up  of  only  five  sailing  ships  and 
seven  steamers;  of  these  twelve  vessels  only  three 
were  available  for  instant  service.  The  other  war 
ships  were  scattered  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  It 
took  months  and  months  to  get  the  ships  back  home. 
Exactly  three  hundred  and  twenty-two  officers  re 
signed  from  the  navy  and  went  into  the  service  of  the 
South,  but  the  South  had  no  navy.  During  the  war 
it  got  together  a  lot  of  queer  boats,  but  in  the  main 
the  Xorth,  with  its  navy,  which  finally  grew  to  about 
five  hundred  boats  of  all  sorts,  had  to  fight  the  forts 
of  the  South  along  the  Atlantic  coast  and  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  and  up  the  Mississippi  and  other  rivers  flow 
ing  into  it.  That  was  the  great  work  of  the  navy  in 
the  conflict.  In  addition,  the  navy  blockaded  the  en 
tire  coast  of  the  South,  a  task  the  like  of  which  was 
never  known  before.  The  South  had  no  manufac 
tures,  and  by  shutting  up  its  ports  and  preventing  it 

33 


34  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OP   WAR. 

from  sending  cotton  to  Europe  and  from  receiving 
supplies,  even  medicines  for  the  sick  being  cut  off,  the 
North  dealt  it  a  hard  blow.  By  opening  the  Missis 
sippi  River  and  keeping  it  open,  the  armies  of  the 
South  were  cut  off  from  many  supplies. 

It  was  not  until  late  in  the  summer  of  1861  that 
the  North  began  naval  work  in  real  earnest.  Two 
very  large  expeditions  were  sent  out  from  Norfolk 
that  year;  one  was  known  as  the  Hatteras  expedition, 
and  the  other  as  the  Port  Royal  expedition.  The  Hat 
teras  expedition  was  to  seize  the  coasts  and  inland 
sounds  along  the  State  of  North  Carolina.  It  sailed 
from  Hampton  Roads  on  August  26,  1861,  under 
Commodore  Stringham.  He  had  seven  ships,  on 
which  were  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  guns.  There 
were  three  transports  with  the  fleet,  carrying  nine 
hundred  soldiers  under  Major-General  B.  F.  Butler. 
This  fleet  arrived  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  just  below  Cape 
Hatteras,  the  next  day,  and  on  August  28th  the  work 
of  landing  troops  began  on  the  ocean  front  of  the 
long  strip  of  sand  from  which  Cape  Hatteras  juts  out. 
There  were  two  forts  covering  Hatteras  Inlet,  Forts 
Clark  and  Hatteras.  Fort  Clark  guarded  the  ap 
proach  from  the  ocean,  and  was  a  small  earthwork. 
Fort  Hatteras  protected  the  inlet.  The  surf  was  so 
high  that  the  iron  boats  in  which  the  Northern  men 
landed  were  tossed  on  the  beach  and  only  three  hun 
dred  soldiers  got  ashore.  They  had  to  stay  there  all 


Chicamacomico 


The  North  Carolina  Sounds. 


36  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

day  and  all  night  in  the  rain  without  food  or  protec 
tion.  The  war  ships  fired  at  Fort  Clark  until  the  men 
there  abandoned  it.  The  next  morning  the  men  in 
Fort  Hatteras  fled  into  what  they  called  a  bombproof, 
a  place  covered  by  earth ,  where  ammunition  was 
stored,  and  where  men  could  be  safe  from  big  cannon 
balls.  The  bombardment  by  the  ships  had  made  them 
leave  their  guns.  One  of  the  shells  from  the  fleet  en 
tered  a  ventilator  to  the  bombproof,  and  caused  a  ter 
rible  panic  among  the  men  there.  They  thought  that 
they  would  all  be  killed,  and  they  rushed  out  and 
soon  the  fort  surrendered.  The  North  captured  six 
hundred  and  fifteen  prisoners.  This  was  really  the 
first  victory  of  the  North  in  the  civil  war.  The 
Northern  forces  did  not  lose  a  man. 

It  was  soon  decided  to  send  a  regiment  to  the  upper 
end  of  Hatteras  Island  to  keep  the  Southern  men 
from  landing  there  and  marching  down  on  the  North 
ern  soldiers.  A  little  boat  called  the  Fannie  went 
along  up  the  sound  with  supplies  for  the  troops. 
When  the  soldiers  reached  the  upper  end  of  the  island 
some  Southern  vessels  captured  the  Fannie,  the  boat 
having,  been  cut  off  from  the  land  forces  by  shoal 
water,  and  a  large  number  of  Southern  troops  tried  to 
capture  the  Indiana  regiment  which  had  marched  up 
to  the  end  of  the  island.  The  Southern  men  tried  to 
land  soldiers  behind  the  Northern  troops  as  well  as  in 
front  of  them.  The  Northern  men  saw  the  trap,  and 


FIGHTING  ALONG  THE   ATLANTIC  COAST.        37 

then  there  began  a  race  along  the  sandy,  shore  of  forty 
miles  between  the  Northern  troops  and  the  Southern 
steamers  on  the  sound  inside  the  Hatteras  strip  of 
sand.  The  steamers  were  delayed  and  the  Northern 
troops  won  the  race,  after  being  chased  all  the  way  by 
the  Southern  troops  who  had  been  landed  above  them. 

When  the  racing  forces  reached  Cape  Hatteras, 
the  Northern  vessel  Monticello,  out  in  the  ocean,  saw 
what  was  going  on  and  began  to  shell  the  Southern  sol 
diers.  The  Southern  men  tried  to  get  on  board  their 
ships  on  the  inside  of  the  island,  bnt  before  they  suc 
ceeded  in  doing  that  many  of  them  were  killed.  Two 
sloop  loads  of  them  were  sunk  by  shells  which  struck 
the  little  vessels,  and  nearly  every  one  on  board  the 
vessels  was  killed  or  drowned.  That  ended  the  fight 
ing  on  the  Hatteras  sand  strip. 

The  time  had  now  come  for  the  Port  Royal  ex 
pedition.  It  started  out  from  Hampton  Roads  on 
October  29,  18G1,  and  consisted  of  more  than  fifty 
vessels.  It  was  a  curious  collection.  It  was  made 
np  mostly  of  tugboats  and  ferryboats,  with  several 
large  war  ships  and  army  transports  thrown  in.  This 
description  has  been  given  of  its  start: 

"  High  plumes  of  smoke,  looking  almost  like  black 
battle  flags,  rose  and  waved  over  the  steamers.  The 
rigging  of  the  sailing  ships  was  full  of  busy  sailors. 
Soon  the  waters  were  dashed  into  foam  by  the  wheels 
and  i  brazen  fins '  of  the  steamers.  Fifty  ships 


38  OUR  NAVY   IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

stretching  seaward  in  one  squadron,  bearing  the 
American  flag,  had  not  been  seen  before,  and  it  was 
a  sight  to  warm  an  American  heart." 

On  the  way  to  Port  Royal,  which  was  to  be  cap 
tured  so  that  the  North  might  have  a  port  where  its 
ships  could  be  coaled  and  repaired,  a  terrible  storm 
arose.  The  ships  were  all  scattered,  and  one  of  them, 
the  Governor,  went  down;  but,  fortunately,  all  those 
on  board,  except  seven,  were  rescued  by  the  -war  ship 
Sabine.  Many  of  the  men  on  the  Governor,  however, 
had  to  jump  into  the  ocean,  from  which  they  were 
rescued  by  small  boats.  It  was  not  until  November 
4th  that  the  ships  began  to  straggle  in.  There  were 
twelve  thousand  troops  on  the  transports  with  the  ex 
pedition.  The  bar  off' Port  Royal  was  ten  miles  out 
to  sea,  and  finally  all  the  ships  got  over  it. 

The  entrance  to  Port  Royal  harbor  is  two  and  one 
half  miles  wide.  On  the  southern  side  of  the  en 
trance  was  Fort  Walker;  on  the  northern  side  was 
Fort  Beauregard.  Both  forts  were  under  command 
of  General  Thomas  Drayton.  Captain  Percival  Dray- 
ton,  General  Dray  ton's  brother,  was  in  command  of 
the  Northern  war  ship  Pocahontas,  and  so,  as  at  the 
Monitor  and  Merrimac  fight,  two  brothers  were  fight 
ing  against  each  other. 

Flag-Officer  Dupont,  who  had  charge  of  the  naval 
forces,  formed  his  fighting  ships  into  two  squadrons. 
They  moved  inside  the  harbor  firing  on  the  forts  as 


FIGHTING  ALONG  THE  ATLANTIC  COAST.        39 


they  went.  One  squadron  was  composed  of  small 
boats,  and  after  it  passed  into  the  bay  it  remained  there 
watching  for  Commodore  Tatnall,  of  the  Southern 


\V>\ 

**4fo 

s<J 


Diagram  of  the  battle  of  Port  Royal. 

navy,  who  had  three  or  four  small  boats  hidden  in 
those  waters.  The  main  fleet,  with  the  Wabash  in 
the  lead,  turned  after  it  had  gone  inside  and  began  to 
pass  out  again.  The  forts  were  not  built  to  shoot  up 


40  OUR  NAVY   IN  TIME  OF   WAR. 

the  harbor,  and  the  Xorthern  ships  did  great  damage 
to  them  while  passing  out  to  sea.  Again  the  proeession 
moved  inside  the  bay  and  again  it  passed  out.  Finally 
only  three  guns  on  Fort  Walker  were  fit  for  use,  and  it 
was  abandoned.  Later  in  the  day  Fort  Beauregard 
on  the  northern  side  of  the  inlet  was  also  abandoned. 
The  total  number  of  killed  on  the  wiir  ships  was  eight ; 
the  killed  in  Fort  Walker  numbered  ten.  One  of  the 
humorous  things  about  the  tight  had  to  do  with  the 
Unadilla,  one  of  the  Xorthern  war  ships.  Her  ma 
chinery  got  out  of  order  and  the  engineers  could  not 
stop  her.  She  signaled  to  the  other  vessels  to  move  out 
of  the  way,  and  Admiral  Ammen,  in  writing  about  it 
afterward,  said  it  reminded  him  of  "  the  droll  song  of 
the  man  with  the  cork  leg  that  would  not  let  him 
tarry." 

This  fight,  like  that  at  Fort  Ilatteras,  was  a  most 
important  victory  for  the  North,  and  it  was  won  much 
in  the  same  way,  by  keeping  the  ships  in  motion  while 
they  were  attacking  the  forts.  But  the  hardest  part 
of  the  struggle  along  those  dreary  and  lonely  shores 
of  the  Atlantic  was  yet  to  come.  It  was  necessary 
in  all  sorts  of  weather  to  go  up  the  hundreds  of  bays 
and  rivers,  through  swamps  and  marshes,  in  order  to 
destroy  numerous  forts  and  earthworks,  and  to  cut 
off  that  part  of  the  South  from  receiving  supplies  bv 
the  ocean  or  from  recapturing  the  forts  that  were 
taken.  More  than  a  year  was  occupied  in  various 


42  OUR  NAVY  IN   TIME  OF   WAR. 

expeditions  of  this  kind  with  Hatteras  Island  or  Port 
Iloyal  as  a  base.  It  was  dreary  work,  and  was  largely 
a  fight  of  weeks  and  months  between  forces  on  ships 
and  forces  on  land;  it  was  navy  against  army.  Many 
acts  of  bravery  were  performed  by  individuals,  and 
the  heroism  shown  was  of  the  kind  that  consists  large 
ly  in  using  pure  grit  without  having  any  chance  to 
reveal  its  real  quality. 

The  most  important  of  these  secondary  expedi 
tions  was  the  one  to  Roanoke  Island,  just  north  of  Hat 
teras  Island,  and  inside  the  strip  of  sand  that  runs 
along  the  ocean.  Admiral  Goldsborough  was  in 
charge  of  the  navy  in  this  affair  and  with  him  was 
General  A.  E.  Burnside,  who  had  twelve  thousand 
soldiers  on  transports.  This  expedition  started  from 
Norfolk  in  January,  1862.  There  were  one  hundred 
and  twenty  vessels  in  it  of  all  sorts.  Practically  none 
was  fit  for  ocean  service.  They  had  to  be  of  light 
draught,  so  as  to  get  over  the  bars.  All  had  tre 
mendous  guns  on  them,  really  too  large  for  the  boats. 
As  in  the  case  of  the  Port  Royal  expedition,  a  big 
storm  arose,  but  all  the  boats  reached  shelter  inside  the 
Hatteras  sand  strip  with  the  exception  of  two  small 
ones,  of  which  one  was  the  Pocahontas,  carrying  a 
lot  of  horses.  This  vessel  was  lost.  On  February  5, 
1862,  the  expedition  started  from  Hatteras  Island 
up  the  Pamlico  Sound  to  capture  Roanoke  Island. 
There  were  six  forts  on  the  island  and  the  lower  end 


FIGHTING   ALONG  THE  ATLANTIC  COAST.        43 

of  it  was  a  marsh.  At  the  upper  end  of  the  island  the 
Southern  forces  had  assembled  a  fleet  of  half  a  dozen 
small  gunboats,  which  were  hidden  behind  a  lot  of 


Scene  of  the  battle  of  Roanoke  Island. 


sunken  vessels  and  piles.      Admiral   Goldsborough's 

ships  shelled  the  forts  while  the  troops  landed  halfway 
5 


44  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

up  the  island.  The  fighting  lasted  two  days.  Ten 
thousand  Northern  troops  who  had  been  fighting  over 
came  five  thousand  Southern  troops,  and  the  North 
ern  vessels  broke  through  the  barrier,  across  the  sound 
from  Roanoke  Island  to  the  mainland,  and  put  the 
Southern  vessels  to  flight.  The  navy  itself  had  six 
men  killed,  and  the  army  had  forty-one  killed.  The 
Northern  forces  took  twenty-six  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  Southern  men  prisoners. 

The  Southern  ships,  in  the  effort  to  escape,  ran  up 
the  Pasquotank  River  to  Elizabeth  City  in  North 
Carolina,  where  the  Dismal  Swamp  Canal  to  Nor 
folk  had  an  outlet.  The  Northern  ships  were  almost 
out  of  powder  and  shot.  It  was  necessary  to  sink  the 
Southern  ships,  which  were  drawn  up  in  line  across 
the  river  behind  Cobb's  Point,  by  collision.  The 
Southern  ships  began  to  shoot  at  the  Northern  ships 
when  the  latter  approached,  a  day  or  two  after  the 
Roanoke  Island  fight,  but  the  Northern  vessels  re 
served  their  ammunition  and  came  up  slowly.  When 
within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  the  Southern  boats 
Commander  Rowan,  of  the  Northern  flotilla,  set  this 
signal : 

"  Make  dash  at  the  enemy." 

The  dozen  Northern  ships  did  dash  at  the  seven 
Southern  vessels.  There  were  collisions  and  hand- 
to-hand  fighting;  in  fifteen  minutes  four  of  the 
Southern  steamers  were  destroyed,  one  was  cap- 


FIGHTING  ALONG  THE  ATLANTIC  COAST.        45 

tured,  arid  two  put  to  night  up  the  Dismal  Swamp 
Canal. 

The  fleeing  Southern  soldiers  and  sailors  in  the 
town  set  fire  to  many  of  the  houses,  but  the  Northern 
troops  and  sailors  landing,  soon  put  out  the  fires  and 
saved  much  property. 

Another  very  important  expedition  grew  out  of 
the  effort  to  keep  the  inland  waters  of  North  Carolina 
in  possession  of  the  North.  It  was  an  expedition  up 
the  Neuse  River  to  Newbern.  A  force  of  thirteen  / 
vessels,  with  transports  conveying  part  of  General 
Burnside's  army,  went  up  the  river  on  March  12, 
1862.  The  following  morning  the  troops  were  landed 
at  a  place  called  Slocum's  Creek.  The  city  of  New 
bern  was  well  defended.  There  were  six  forts  along 
the  river,  and  below  them  two  lines  of  obstructions 
against  war  ships.  The  first  of  these  obstructions  con 
sisted  of  double  piling.  Part  of  the  piles  were  ver 
tical,  and  part  were  pointed  down  stream  and  had 
iron  caps  on  them.  All  were  under  water.  In 
front  of  this  double  row  of  piles  there  were  fastened 
thirty  torpedoes.  Farther  up  the  river  there  was  an 
other  row  of  obstructions,  consisting  of  twenty-four 
vessels  which  had  been  sunk,  forming  a  complete  bar 
rier  across  the  river.  It  did  not  seem  possible  for  any 
boats  to  break  through. 

The  fighting  to  capture  Newbern  occupied  two 
days,  March  13th  and  14th.  The  Northern  war  ships 


46  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

below  the  barriers  in  the  river  shelled  the  forts,  and 
the  marching  Northern  troops  on  land  stormed  them 
one  by  one.  The  Southern  soldiers  fled  from  fort 
after  fort,  and  finally,  on  the  second  day,  the  war  ships 
broke  through  the  barriers.  This  was  not  accom 
plished,  however,  until  Commander  Rowan,  in  charge 
of  the  ships,  showed  great  bravery.  He  set  this  sig 
nal: 

"  Follow  me." 

The  ships  did  follow  him.  Swiftly  over  the  tor 
pedoes  the  vessels  went.  None  of  the  torpedoes  ex 
ploded.  Sharp  against  the  iron-tipped  piles  the  vessels 
dashed.  Three  of  the  ships  were  damaged  severely, 
but  all  were  able  to  stay  afloat  and  pass  through  the 
barrier.  While  the  troops  were  carrying  everything 
before  them,  the  fleet  swept  up  the  river  against  the 
second  barrier  and  carried  that  away.  Soon  both  army 
and  navy  were  in  possession  of  the  town.  In  this  fight 
only  two  men  were  killed  and  eleven  wounded  on  the 
ships.  An  expedition  followed  to  Fort  Macon  in 
Beaufort  harbor,  near  Cape  Lookout.  The  ships 
bombarded  this  while  the  army  captured  it.  There 
were  small  expeditions  to  Hamilton,  Washington, 
Franklin,  Onslow,  Jacksonville,  and  other  towns,  in 
which  great  bravery  was  shown  by  the  men  who  went 
3n  them,  and  in  one  of  which,  that  to  Onslow,  Lieu 
tenant  William  B.  Gushing,  of  whom  we  shall  hear 
something  later,  distinguished  himself  by  his  bravery 


FIGHTING  ALONG  THE  ATLANTIC  COAST.        47 

in  escaping  with  a  few  companions  in  an  open  boat 
down  the  Kiver  Onslow,  under  a  heavy  fire  from 
shore,  after  his  own  boat,  the  Ellis,  had  been  lost 
through  a  mistake  of  the  pilot  in  running  her  into 
shoal  water.  By  the  fall  of  1862,  however,  the  North 
Carolina  sounds  and  adjacent  waters  were  in  complete 
possession  of  the  Xorth. 

From  the  Port  Royal  base  many  expeditions  were 
sent  into  nearby  sounds,  rivers,  creeks,  and  swamps. 
Many  lives  were  lost  in  these  ventures,  which 
might  be  called  rowboat  expeditions.  Xo  braver  or 
harder  work  was  done  in  the  entire  war  than  was  done 
by  the  men  who  went  on  these  trips.  The  forts 
and  forces  in  upper  Florida,  with  Fernandina  as  a 
base,  were  destroyed,  and  little  by  little  the  earth 
works  and  fortifications  on  the  many  inlets  in  the  en 
tire  swampy  region  that  could  be  reached  from  Port 
Royal  Avere  battered  down.  All  this  ended  in  the 
capture  of  Fort  Pulaski  on  Tybee  Island  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Savannah  River,  in  April,  1 863.  The  ships  had 
surrounded  the  fort,  but  could  not  get  near  it,  and  it 
was  necessary  to  drag  cannon  through  the  swamps  on 
wooden  supports  that  were  half  rafts  and  half  rail 
roads,  so  that  the  forts  might  be  shelled.  Eleven  bat 
teries  were  placed  around  the  fort,  and  after  two  days' 
shelling  it  surrendered.  This  was  the  first  time  that 
rifled  guns  were  used  against  a  modern  fort,  and  the 
fight  showed  that  the  day  of  stone  forts  was  over,  just 


48 


OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 


as  the  fight  between  the  Monitor  and  Merrimac  had 
showed  that  the  day  of  wooden  war  ships  had  passed. 
The  North,  through  the  navy,  had  made  a  great 
advance  by  this  time.  On  the  Atlantic  coast  only  the 
important  ports  of  Wilmington,  Charleston,  arid  Sa 
vannah  remained  in  possession  of  the  South.  Key 
West  always  remained  in  possession  of  the  North,  as 
did  Fort  Pickens,  in  Pensacola  harbor.  Mobile  Bay 
and  the  Mississippi  were  still  in  the  South's  possession, 
and  it  was  against  the  ports  along  the  Atlantic  and  in 
the  Gulf  and  up  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries  that 
the  heaviest  work  of  the  navy  was  yet  to  be  done. 


The  Union  navy  flotilla  co-operating  with  the  land  force  in 
the  attack  on  Fort  Macon. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

UP    THE    MISSISSIPPI FAKRAGUT    APPEARS. 

THE  Gulf  of  Mexico  early  became  the  scene  of 
war.  Southern  forces  had  seized  the  navy  yard  at 
Pensacola,  and  the  three  forts  in  that  harbor,  Pickens, 
McRae,  and  Barrancas,  were  in  danger  of  being  cap 
tured.  The  sloop  of  war  Brooklyn  was  sent  to  the  aid 
of  the  forts  with  an  artillery  company,  and  on  March 
31,  1861,  tried  to  land  the  soldiers.  The  authorities  in 
the  navy  yard  forbade  it,  despite  the  orders  of  the  Gov 
ernment  at  Washington,  and  it  became  necessary  to 
send  orders  there  again.  Lieutenant  Worden,  who 
fought  later  in  the  Monitor,  was  selected  to  take  these 
orders.  He  tore  up  the  written  orders,  having  com 
mitted  them  to  memory,  and  got  through  the  Southern 
lines,  saying  that  he  had  a  mere  verbal  message  for  the 
commander  of  the  Brooklyn.  At  once,  after  his  ar 
rival,  all  the  Northern  troops  available  in  the  station 
were  sent  to  Fort  Pickens,  which  remained  in  pos 
session  of  the  "Xortli  for  the  rest  of  the  war.  Worden 
was  captured  in  Alabama  on  his  way  back  and  held  a 

prisoner  for  seven  months  before  he  was  released.    The 

49 


50  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

war  ship  Colorado  blockaded  the  harbor  of  Pensacola 
after  that,  and  on  September  13,  1861,  nearly  one 
hundred  of  her  men  in  small  boats  did  a  brave  thing  in 
invading  the  navy  yard,  and  in  destroying  a  vessel, 
called  the  Judah,  which  was  being  made  ready,  in 
plain  sight  of  Fort  Pickens,  to  destroy  or  capture  the 
commerce  of  the  North.  Such  vessels  when  owned 
and  operated  by  private  persons  are  called  privateers. 

Farther  along  on  the  Gulf  there  had  been  some 
fighting  at  Galveston;  the  blockading  vessel,  South 
Carolina,  had  fired  on  a  battery  near  the  city  in  an 
swer  to  some  shots  from  the  battery.  That  was  on 
August  31,  1861.  A  few  weeks  later  Lieutenant 
Jouett  entered  the  harbor  of  Galveston  with  a  party 
in  small  boats,  and  although  three  men  were  killed 
and  six  wounded  out  of  the  forty  men  with  him,  the 
vessel  Royal  Yacht,  which  was  also  being  fitted  out  to 
prey  on  Northern  commerce,  was  destroyed. 

Just  before  this  brave  act  by  Jouett  and  his  men 
there  occurred  what  has  been  called  the  "  Bull  Run 
of  the  navy."  It  was  an  occasion  which  did  not  re 
flect  credit  upon  the  officers  of  the  United  States 
navy.  Such  events  are  so  rare  that  the  story  should 
be  told,  because  it  brings  out  all  the  clearer  the  true 
spirit  of  the  naval  officers.  The  Mississippi  River 
had  been  blockaded  by  four  vessels  which  were  sta 
tioned  up  the  river  at  the  place  where  it  branches  and 
forms  a  delta,  flowing  into  the  Gulf  through  several 


SCENE  OF  THE 
NAVAL,  OPERATIONS 

IN  THE 

WESTERN  RIVERS. 


*  Memphis 


Duval's 
Bluff ' 


L  Clarendon 


St.  Charles* 


Arkn, 


fFt.Pembcrto* 


MiUiken's/feend< 


52  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR, 

mouths.  The  plan  was  to  prevent  ships  from  getting 
in  or  out  of  the  river.  There  were  four  ships  of  war 
on  watch.  They  were  the  flagship  Richmond,  the 
sloop  Vincennes,  the  sloop  Preble,  and  the  little  screw 
steamer  Water  Witch.  Altogether  they  had  forty-five 
guns,  nearly  one  half  of  which  were  of  very  high 
grade.  There  had  been  rumors  that  the  South  was 
building  some  Avar  ships  up  the  river,  and  a  watch  was 
kept  for  them  also.  One  of  these  wras  a  ram — the 
South  built  a  good  many  vessels  of  this  kind — called 
the  Manassas.  She  was  simply  a  big  ocean-going  tug 
that  once  belonged  in  Boston.  The  upper  works  had 
been  cut  down  and  an  oval  deck  or  roof  of  thick  oak 
had  been  built  on  her.  She  had  one  sixty-eight- 
pounder  gun.  There  was  only  one  little  hatchway 
through  which  the  crew  could  pass  in  or  out.  Her 
engines  would  scarcely  go,  her  gun  wouldn't  shoot, 
and  altogether  she  was  the  crudest  engine  of  war  yet 
seen  afloat  in  the  war.  But  the  officers  on  the  watch 
ing  Xorthern  boats  were  frightened  about  her.  An 
awful  bogie  man  could  riot  have  scared  a  lot  of  chil 
dren  worse. 

It  was  3.30  A.  M.  on  October  13,  1861,  that  the 
lookout  on  the  Preble  called  out: 

"  Here  comes  the  rebel  ram !  " 

Sure  enough  she  was  coming.  She  was  swinging 
down  stream  with  the  tide,  and  she  struck  the  TCich- 
mond  a  glancing  blow  and  made  a  small  hole  in  her 


UP  THE  MISSISSIPPI— FARRAGUT  APPEARS.     53 

side.  That  was  all  the  damage  she  did.  The  North 
ern  squadron  had  a  terrible  fright.  The  Richmond 
and  Preble  eaeh  fired  broadsides  at  the  awful  mon 
ster,  and  then  all  the  .Northern  boats  tried  to  run 
away.  Just  then  three  fire  rafts  were  seen  coming 
down  the  river.  The  Richmond  and  Yincennes  ran 
aground.  The  fire  rafts  ran  ashore  and  did  no 
damage,  but  Captain  Pope,  of  the  Richmond,  was 
not  going  to  take  any  chances,  and  he  set  the  sig 
nal  "  Cross  the  bar."  Captain  Jlandy,  of  the  Yin 
cennes,  was  so  anxious  to  get  out  of  harm's  way 
that  he  read  the  signal  kt  Abandon  ship/'  which 
he  started  to  do  at  once.  He  laid  a  mine  to  blow 
up  his  vessel,  and  then  in  a  pompous  way,  as  though 
he  were  playing  a  part  in  a  play  in  a  cheap  theater, 
he  wrapped  himself  in  tbe  Hag  and  left  the  ship.  A 
sailor,  brave  man  that  he  was,  put  Handy  to  slunne  by 
destroying  the  burning  fuse  that  was  to  blow  up  the 
ship,  and  Handy  had  to  go  back  to  his  vessel.  Later 
in  the  day  he  asked  permission  to  abandon  the  Yin 
cennes  again,  but  Pope  would  not  permit  it.  They 
had  a  hard  time  to  get  the  ships  over  the  bar  and  out 
to  sea,  where  they  felt  safer,  but  they  did  not  feel 
comfortable  until  they  had  sent  the  Preble  to  Barra- 
taria  to  get  the  South  Carolina  to  come  and  help 
them.  The  transport  McClennan  also  arrived,  but 
the  teeth  of  the  commander  of  the  Preble  still  chat 
tered,  and  finally  he  asked  permission  to  go  to  Ship 


54  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

Island  to  get  "  wood  for  the  ship's  galley."  The  men 
on  the  Manassas,  after  the  collision  with  the  Rich 
mond,  found  that  the  craft's  engines  were  put  out 
of  order,  and  they  were  afraid  they  would  be  at 
tacked  while  they  were  helpless.  At  last  they  got 
the  engines  to  working  and  slowly  crept  up  the 
river,  while  the  Northern  vessels  were  running  away 
to  sea. 

Surely  it  was  time  for  a  strong  man  to  appear  in 
that  region.  That  man  did  appear  soon.  His  name 
was  David  Glasgow  Farragut,  one  of  the  greatest 
names  in  the  history  of  the  United  States  navy.  He 
was  born  in  the  South,  but  refused  to  leave  the  coun 
try's  service  when  the  war  came.  He  had  fought  on 
the  Essex  under  Commodore  Porter  in  the  War  of 
1812,  and  had  served  steadily  since  in  the  navy.  Com 
modore  Porter's  son,  David  D.  Porter,  a  commander 
in  the  navy,  recommended  that  Farragut  be  appointed 
to  command  a  fleet  to  open  the  Mississippi,  and  Far 
ragut  left  Washington,  where  he  had  been  engaged 
in  minor  duty,  and  appeared  off  the  mouths  of  the 
Mississippi  in  his  flagship  Hartford,  on  February  20, 
1862,  having  sailed  from  Hampton  Roads  on  Feb 
ruary  2d. 

By  the  middle  of  April  Farragut  had  gathered  a 
squadron  of  seventeen  ships,  which  mounted  ninety- 
three  guns  that  could  be  fired  in  broadside.  None  of 
the  guns  could  be  fired  directly  ahead.  Farragut  also 


UP  THE  MISSISSIPPI— FARRAGUT  APPEARS.     55 

collected  twenty  mortar  boats  and  six  little  gunboats 
to  protect  them.  He  had  a  difficult  time  in  getting 
the  larger  vessels  of  his  squadron  over  the  bar,  and 
one  of  them,  the  Colorado,  could  not  be  pulled  over 
because  of  the  shallow  water.  Twenty  miles  up  the 
Mississippi  were  two  fine  forts.  One  was  Fort  St. 
Philip,  and  the  other  Fort  Jackson.  The  river  runs 
northeast  where  these  forts  were  situated,  and  Fort  St. 
Philip  was  on  what  might  be  called  the  northern 
bank.  Fort  Jackson  was  on  the  southern  bank.  The 
forts  were  only  eight  hundred  yards  distant  from  each 
other,  and  together  they  mounted  one  hundred  and 
nine  guns,  of  which  only  about  fifteen  were  of  the 
best  kind.  These  had  come  from  the  Norfolk  Navy 
Yard. 

Farragut  had  orders  to  pass  these  forts  with  his 
ships.  No  such  deed  had  ever  been  done  before  in 
war.  The  Southern  officials  thought  that  such  an  at 
tempt  would  be  made,  and  early  in  the  year  they  placed 
across  the  river  a  barrier  of  thick  cypress  logs  held  in 
place  by  large  anchors.  A  flood  had  come  down  the 
river  and  had  broken  the  barrier  in  one  place,  but  it 
was  patched  up  by  sinking  seven  small  schooners  in 
place  of  the  logs  that  were  swept  away.  In  addition 
to  all  these  defenses  the  South  had  eleven  steamers 
converted  into  war  ships,  and  they  also  had  what  they 
called  a  floating  battery.  The  name  of  this  battery 
was  the  Louisiana.  This  vessel  had  sixteen  large-sized 


56  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

guns  on  it  behind  thick  armor,  but  she  was  not  fin 
ished  when  Farragut  appeared  in  the  river,  and  she 
had  to  be  towed  to  a  place  near  the  forts  so  that  she 
could  take  part  in  the  fighting.  In  addition  to  the 
various  boats  the  Southern  forces  had,  they  had  several 
fire  rafts  which  were  to  be  sent  down  the  river  blazing 
against  the  Northern  ships. 

Farragut  began  active  work  on  April  16,  1862. 
Before  he  got  safely  above  the  two  forts  one  of  the 
most  thrilling  contests  ever  known  in  war  took  place. 
It  was  marked  by  great  bravery  on  both  sides.  The 
first  step  that  Farragut  took  in  his  plan  to  force  his 
way  up  the  river  was  to  anchor  his  mortar  schooners 
a  short  distance  below  the  forts.  He  took  limbs  of 
trees  and  dressed  up  their  masts  and  thus  disguised 
the  ships.  Three  of  his  officers  had  surveyed  secretly 
the  exact  distances  from  the  places  on  each  side  of  the 
river,  where  the  mortar  boats  were  anchored,  to  the 
forts,  and  on  the  morning  of  April  18th  the  bombard 
ment  from  the  mortar  boats  began.  The  shells  were 
thrown  high  in  the  air  and  were  dropped  into  the  forts. 
The  firing  lasted  day  and  night  for  six  days.  Each 
boat  fired  a  shot  every  ten  minutes  in  the  daytime 
and  every  thirty  minutes  in  the  nighttime.  About 
nineteen  hundred  shells  were  fired  every  day  from 
these  iiKirt.ii1  boats.  This  bombardment  kept  the  men 
in  the  forts  stirred  up  all  the  time,  and  frequently 
the  gunners  had  to  flee  to  bombproofs  to  seek  safety. 


58  OUH  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

Altogether  fourteen  men  in  the  forts  were  killed  in 
the  bombardment. 

Farragut  felt  that  it  was  now  time  to  take  his 
seagoing  ships  up  the  river.  He  sent  two  of  the 
smaller  ships,  the  Itasca  and  the  Pinola,  up  the  stream 
on  the  night  of  April  20th,  to  break  down  the  bar 
rier.  The  chains  holding  one  of  the  schooners  in  the 
barrier  were  slipped  and  the  schooner  drifted  down 
the  river.  The  Itasca  passed  through  the  gap,  turned 
about,  and  came  down  at  full  speed.  She  struck  the 
chains  that  held  the  remaining  schooners  together  and 
made  a  larger  opening.  This  left  a  good-sized  space 
in  the  barrier,  large  enough  for  Farragut's  ships  to 
pass  in  single  file. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  April  24th  two  little  red 
lights  were  hoisted  to  the  masthead  of  Farragut's  flag 
ship,  the  Hartford,  as  a  signal  for  the  squadron  to  get 
under  way.  Farragut  wanted  to  lead  the  fleet,  but 
his  captains  persuaded  him  to  place  the  largest  of  the 
ships  in  the  middle  of  the  procession,  sending  the 
smaller  ones  first  and  also  allowing  other  small  ones  to 
bring  up  the  rear.  The  ships  were  separated  into 
three  divisions,  and  Captain  Theodorus  Bailey,  in  the 
Cayuga,  had  the  honor  of  leading  the  procession. 
Farragut,  on  the  Hartford,  led  the  second  division. 
The  lookouts  on  the  forts  soon  saw  what  was  coming. 
Alarms  were  sounded,  shot  and  shell  were  secured 
and  piled  up  near  the  guns,  and  by  the  time  that  the 


UP  THE   MISSISSIPPI— FAREAGUT  APPEARS.     59 

Cayuga  passed  through  the  gap  in  the  barrier  the 
great  fight  began.  Monster  boniires  were  lighted  on 
the  banks,  the  shells  from  the  mortar  boats  down  the 
river  were  screaming  in  midair,  flashes  of  lightning 
were  darting  from  the  guns,  and  soon  a  great  mass  of 
black  smoke  began  to  settle  on  the  river  between  the 
two  forts.  To  enter  this  black  cloud,  and  in  the  night, 
seemed  not  only  like  passing  into  the  jaws  of  death, 
but  also  like  going  into  a  tomb.  The  smoke,  however, 
protected  the  vessels  of  the  first  division  of  the  fleet 
from  serions  damage,  and  they  ran  by  the  forts  with 
out  much  difficulty.  It  was  after  they  got  above  the 
forts  that  they  had  their  exciting  time. 

It  was  just  before  four  o'clock  in  the  morning 
when  Farragut,  leading  the  second  division,  swept 
past  Fort  St.  Philip.  The  smoke  was  so  thick  that,  as 
he  discharged  a  broadside,  he  received  little  damage 
in  return.  Soon  a  more  terrible  enemy  appeared.  It 
was  a  fire  raft  pushed  by  a  tug  called  the  Mosher. 
Farragut  tried  to  sheer  off,  but  the  current  caught 
him,  and  ran  his  frigate  hard  and  fast  on  a  mud  bank, 
lie  was  so  close  to  Fort  St.  Philip  that  the  gunners 
could  be  heard  talking  in  the  fort.  His  ship  was  rec 
ognized  by  his  flag  on  the  mizzenmast,  but  the  vessel 
was  so  close  to  the  fort  that  the  shots  that  were  fired 
at  him  nearly  all  passed  over  him.  The  flames 
from  the  fire  raft,  however,  leaped  up  the  side  of  his 
vessel,  into  the  portholes  and  up  the  rigging,  and 


UP  THE  MISSISSIPPI— FARRAGUT  APPEARS.     61 

there  was  great  danger  that  the  ship  would  be  burned. 
Farragut  is  said  to  have  exclaimed: 

"  My  God!  is  it  to  end  in  this  way!  " 
Recovering  himself  at  once,  he  shouted  sternly: 
"Don't  flinch  from  that  fire,  boys;  there  is  a  hot 
ter  fire  for  those  who  don't  do  their  duty !  : 

A  stream  of  water  was  brought  to  play  on  the  fire, 
and  fortunately  it  was  put  out,  but  not  until  a  shot 
had  sunk  the  tug  Mosher  and  its  brave  men,  all  of 
whom  were  lost.  The  engines  of  the  Hartford  were 
reversed,  and  the  ship  backed  out  of  the  mud  and 
passed  up  the  river  beyond  the  forts,  without  further 
serious  damage. 

It  was  about  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  when 
Captain  Bailey,  on  the  Cayuga,  and  leading  the  first 
squadron,  got  clear  of  the  forts  and  the  smoke  bank. 
He  looked  back  and  could  not  see  one  of  the  ships 
behind  him.  In  front  of  him  were  eleven  Southern 
gunboats.  Three  of  them  came  for  him  at  full  speed. 
He  fired  a  shot  and  crippled  one  of  them,  which  had 
to  run  ashore.  A  second  shot  crippled  another  of  the 
vessels,  and  then  help  arrived.  The  Yaruna,  the  fastest 
of  the  Xorthern  vessels,  and  fifth  in  the  line,  passed 
the  forts  and  smoke,  and,  with  a  shot,  sent  off  the  third 
of  the  vessels  that  were  after  the  Cayuga.  Then  be 
gan  one  of  the  most  exciting  fights  seen  during  the 
war.  The  South  had  two  very  fast  vessels  in  its 
fleet.  They  were  furnished  by  the  State  of  Louisiana, 


62  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME   OF   WAR. 

and  were  called  the  Governor  Moore  and  the 
McJIae.  Lieutenant  Beverly  Kennon,  in  command 
of  the  Moore,  and  Commander  Thomas  B.  Huger,  in 
charge  of  the  McRae,  put  after  the  Varuna.  The 
Varuna  and  the  Moore,  going  at  full  speed,  left  the 
McRae  behind,  and  that  vessel  turned  down  stream 
and  met  the  Northern  steamer  Iroquois,  which  only  a 
few  months  before  Huger  himself  had  commanded. 
A  broadside  from  the  Iroquois  killed  Huger  and  sent 
the  McRae  down  to  the  forts  for  protection.  Mean 
while  the  Moore  was  overhauling  the  Yaruna,  Ken- 
non  having  used  oil  on  his  fires  to  get  up  more  steam 
and  additional  speed.  Shot  after  shot  from  the  Ya 
runa  kept  piercing  the  Moore,  but  still  that  vessel  held 
on.  Finally  Kennon,  in  his  effort  to  cripple  the 
Yaruna,  fired  his  bow  gun  through  the  deck  of  his  own 
vessel  in  order  to  make  a  porthole  for  a  second  shot. 
This  shot  did  some  damage,  but  just  at  that  time  the 
commander  of  the  Yaruna  turned  his  vessel  broadside, 
and  the  Moore  rammed  the  Yaruna  twice.  The 
Yaruna,  however,  had  practically  shot  the  Moore  to 
pieces.  Fifty-seven  of  the  crew  of  the  Southern  boat 
had  been  killed,  and  she  drifted  ashore  and  burned 
there.  "When  the  Yaruna  had  shaken  off  the  Moore, 
she  was  rammed  on  the  other  side  by  a  Southern 
ram  called  the  Stonewall  Jackson.  The  Yaruna 
was  now  sinking  fast,  and  her  commander  ran  her 
on  the  river  bank,  where  she  sank,  her  crew  fir- 


I 

I 


(54  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

ing   lier  guns   until   the   water   nearly   covered   the 
cannon. 

All  the  Northern  vessels  had  an  exciting  time, 
but  probably  the  Brooklyn  suffered  the  most.  That 
vessel  found  it  difficult  to  pass  through  the  barrier  of 
logs  below  the  forts,  having  missed  the  way  in  the 
smoke.  At  one  time  Captain  Craven,  her  com 
mander,  thought  that  he  would  have  to  anchor  be 
tween  the  forts  and  be  shot  to  pieces  there.  He  was 
determined  not  to  go  back.  His  vessel's  engines, 
which  had  stopped,  began  to  work  again,  however,  and 
the  ship  passed  on.  The  Brooklyn  was  right  behind 
the  Hartford,  and  when  Craven  saw  Farragut's  vessel 
aground,  he  stopped  to  help  out  Farragut  by  shooting 
at  the  forts.  He  passed  within  one  hundred  feet  of 
Fort  St.  Philip,  and  the  flashes  from  the  Southern 
cannon  scorched  the  faces  of  the  gunners  on  the 
Brooklyn.  Then  the  Brooklyn  exchanged  broad 
sides  with  the  floating  battery  Louisiana,  but  was 
damaged  little.  The  floating  battery  didn't  seem  to 
be  hurt  at  all.  Next  a  cry  of  alarm  ran  through 
the  Brooklyn  that  the  ram  Manassas  was  coming 
down  the  river.  The  Manassas  struck  the  Brooklyn 
a  glancing  blow,  and  did  considerable  damage  to 
the  Northern  ship.  A  man  came  out  on  deck  of 
the  Manassas  to  see  the  effect  of  the  collision. 
This  man  suddenly  toppled  over  and  fell  into 
the  water.  An  officer  on  the  Brooklyn  asked 


UP  THE  MISSISSIPPI— FARRAGUT  APPEARS.     65 

the  quartermaster  if  he  had  seen  the  man  fall.  He 
replied : 

"  Yes,  I  saw  him  fall;  in  fact,  I  helped  him.  I 
hit  him  on  the  head  with  my  lead." 

The  Brooklyn  finally  passed  the  forts  and  de 
stroyed  several  of  the  small  Southern  gunboats  up  the 
river.  The  ram  Manassas  followed  the  Brooklyn  up 
the  river,  but  was  seen  by  two  Northern  boats,  the 
Mississippi  and  Kineo.  They  Avent  after  the  Manassas 
and  her  crew  ran  her  ashore  and  escaped.  The  Mis 
sissippi  fired  a  broadside  into  her  and  fairly  blew 
her  out  of  the  mud.  She  floated  down  the  river, 
and  while  passing  the  mortar  boats  below  the 
forts  sank.  Only  three  of  the  Southern  vessels 
escaped  that  fate.  It  was  bright  day  by  this  time, 
and  all  of  Farragut's  vessels,  except  three  little 
ones,  the  Itasca,  the  Winona,  and  the  Pinola,  had 
passed  the  forts.  The  loss  on  the  Xorthern  fleet  was 
thirty-seven  killed  and  one  hundred  and  forty-seven 
wounded;  the  loss  on  the  Southern  boats  was  never 
known,  but  it  was  larger  than  on  the  Northern  boats. 

The  hardest  part  of  opening  the  Mississippi  River 
from  the  sea  had  now  been  accomplished.  On  the 
next  day,  April  25th,  Xew  Orleans  surrendered  to 
Farragut.  Forts  St.  Philip  and  Jackson  also  yielded. 
A  few  days  later  Baton  "Rouge  and  Natchez  also  sur 
rendered,  and  finally,  on  June  ISth,  Farragut  and 
his  fleet,  including  the  mortar  schooners,  arrived  be- 


66  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

low  Yicksburg.  On  June  26th  Commander  Porter, 
with  his  mortar  boats,  began  to  shell  the  earthworks 
on  the  high  bluffs  of  Yicksburg.  At  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning  of  June  28th  Farragut  started  to  run 
by  the  batteries,  as  he  had  gone  by  the  forts  below 
Xew  Orleans,  lie  placed  his  three  strongest  vessels, 
the  Richmond,  Hartford,  and  Brooklyn,  in  one  line 
nearest  the  batteries. 

The  smaller  vessels  of  the  squadron  were  placed  in 
line  on  the  outside  of  the  first  column.  The  land  bat 
teries  began  a  fierce  fire  and  Farragut,  thinking  he 
was  too  far  in  advance,  slowed  down  his  ships  so  as 
to  help  the  others.  Captain  Palmer,  of  the  Iroquois, 
who  was  at  the  head  of  the  outside  column,  saw  Far 
ragut  stop,  and  thought  the  flagship  must  be  in 
trouble.  Palmer  therefore  let  his  ship  drift  back  into 
the  fight.  Farragut  saw  this,  but  did  not  understand 
Palmer's  motives.  He  seized  a  trumpet  and  shouted 
to  Palmer: 

"  Captain  Palmer,  what  do  you  mean  by  disobey 
ing  my  orders?  " 

Palmer  replied  that  he  thought  Farragut  was  in 
distress  and  had  come  back  to  help  him.  Farragut 
never  forgot  that  deed,  so  touched  was  he  by  Palmer's 
devotion.  By  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  all  the 
vessels,  except  three,  had  passed  the  batteries.  The 
three  remained  behind  through  a  mistake.  Farragut 
met  Flag-Officer  Davis,  of  the  fleet  of  boats  that  had 


UP  THE  MISSISSIPPI— FAERAGUT  APPEARS.     67 

been  operating  in  the  upper  Mississippi,  and  that  had 
made  its  way  down  as  far  as  Vicksburg.  The  opera 
tions  of  this  tipper  fleet  will  be  told  about  in  another 
chapter.  Farragut  lost  seven  killed  and  thirty 
wounded  in  passing  Vicksburg. 

Two  weeks  after  Farragut  and  Davis  had  joined 
their  forces,  an  expedition  of  three  vessels  was  sent 
up  the  Yazoo  River  to  find  out  something  about 
a  Southern  ram  called  the  Arkansas,  which  was 
being  built  up  there.  The  three  vessels  met  the 
ram  boldly  coming  down  the  stream.  The  ram 
put  them  all  to  flight,  and  then  came  right  down 
among  the  Northern  ships.  Like  all  the  Southern 
rams  her  machinery  was  almost  useless,  and  she 
could  go  only  a  little  faster  than  the  current  of  the 
river. 

On  she  went,  shooting  right  and  left,  through 
the  Northern  fleet,  and  she  actually  escaped  because 
she  had  not  been  expected  and  because  only  one  of 
the  Northern  vessels  had  steam  up.  Farragut  was 
greatly  cast  down  over  this,  and  that  very  night 
took  his  ships  down  the  river  past  Vicksburg  in  order 
to  destroy  the  Arkansas.  The  Arkansas  had  been 
moored  in  a  sheltered  place,  and  Farragut  failed  to 
destroy  her,  although  his  vessels  shot  at  her  as  they 
passed  down.  Farragut  had  five  men  killed  and  six 
teen  wounded  in  this  second  passage  of  Vicksburg, 
while  Davis,  who  remained  above  the  city,  had  thir- 


68  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

teen  killed  and  thirty-four  wounded  in  the  action  with 
the  batteries. 

His  ships  needing  repairs  and  his  coal  supply  be 
ing  short,  Farragut  went  back  to  New  Orleans  and 
took  charge  of  affairs  on  the  lower  Mississippi  and  on 
the  Gulf.  On  October  1,  1862,  the  command  of  the 
squadron  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  which  up  to  this 
time,  by  a  curious  arrangement,  had  been  part  of  the 
army,  was  transferred  to  the  navy,  and  Commander 
David  13.  Porter,  Farragut's  old  friend,  was  placed  in 
charge.  Farragut  spent  the  winter  in  operations  along 
the  Gulf,  and  Porter  remained  up  the  Mississippi  to 
help  Grant  capture  Vicksburg  and  finally  to  open  the 
river.  Corpus  Christi  and  Galveston  were  captured 
through  Farragut's  efforts,  but  Galveston  had  been  re 
taken  by  the  Southern  forces.  It  will  be  seen,  there 
fore,  that  Farragut  had  not  only  received  a  check  when 
he  ran  by  the  batteries  on  Vicksburg  the  previous 
July,  in  pursuit  of  the  Arkansas,  but  that  he  had  not 
been  entirely  successful  during  the  winter  in  his  other 
operations. 

Early  in  March,  1863,  Farragut  came  up  the 
river  again  to  look  after  affairs.  The  South  had 
strongly  fortified  Port  Hudson  by  this  time,  and  here 
Farragut  fought  another  sharp  battle.  He  decided  to 
run  by  the  batteries,  as  he  had  done  at  Vicksburg.  He 
arranged  six  of  his  vessels  in  pairs,  leaving  one,  the 
Mississippi,  to  follow  along  by  herself.  The  batteries 


UP  THE  MISSISSIPPI— FARRAGUT  APPEARS.     69 

at  Port  Hudson  were  very  strong,  and  fully  one  hun 
dred  feet  above  the  river.  The  channel  was  crooked, 
and  it  was  therefore  very  difficult  to  pass  the  place. 
Lashed  to  Farragut's  flagship,  the  Hartford,  was  the 
small  boat  Albatross.  Six  mortar  schooners  having 
begun  the  fight  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  Farragut 
started  up  the  river.  A  thick  bank  of  smoke  covered 
the  stream,  and  Farragut  had  little  difficulty  in  get 
ting  by  the  batteries.  His  ship  ran  aground  at  the 
bend  just  above  the  earthworks,  but  he  got  free  and 
had  only  one  man  killed.  Following  him  were  the 
Richmond  and  Genesee  lashed  together.  They  were 
about  past  the  last  battery  when  a  shot  entered  the 
engine  room  of  the  Richmond  and  blew  open  a  safety 
valve.  So  much  steam  escaped  that  the  Richmond 
and  the  Genesee  couldn't  get  up  the  river  and  had  to 
drift  past  the  batteries  again.  The  Monongahela  and 
Kineo  were  third  in  line.  A  shot  broke  the  Kineo's 
rudder  and  the  Monongahela  ran  aground.  The 
Monongahela  finally  got  off,  but  her  engine  broke 
down,  and  these  two  ships  drifted  below  out  of  action. 
The  Mississippi  then  came  along  all  by  herself.  She, 
too,  ran  aground  at  the  bend  opposite  the  last  battery. 
She  had  no  vessel  to  help  pull  her  off,  and  she  re 
mained  hard  and  fast  for  thirty-five  minutes  under  a 
terrible  fire.  Her  captain  ordered  her  guns  to  be 
spiked  and  thrown  into  the  river;  the  sick  and 
wounded  were  lowered  into  boats,  and  the  ship  was 


70  OUR  NAVY  IN   TIME   OF  WAR. 

set  oil  fire  and  abandoned,  it  was  a  sad  end  for  a 
famous  vessel.  The  Mississippi  had  been  the  Hag- 
ship  of  Perry  when  he  opened  Japan  to  civilization 
a  few  years  before.  In  this  fight  at  Port  Hudson 
Farragut  lost  one  hundred  and  fourteen  killed  and 
wounded. 

Although  Farragut  had  succeeded  in  passing  the 
batteries  at  Port  Hudson,  this  was  another  check,  for 
really  only  two  of  his  vessels  had  succeeded  in  getting 
up  the  river.  With  his  two  vessels  and  one  that  had 
come  down  the  river  from  Porter's  squadron,  he  did 
some  fighting  between  Port  Hudson  and  Vicksburg, 
but  it  was  of  little  importance.  In  the  latter  part  of 
April  Porter  came  down  the  river,  running  by  the 
batteries  at  Vicksburg  and  Grand  Gulf,  as  will  be 
told  in  the  next  chapter,  and  on  May  2,  1863,  Far 
ragut  gave  him  command  of  the  Mississippi  from 
Port  Hudson  north.  Farragut  then  joined  his  fleet 
below  Port  Hudson,  going  overland  to  reach  his  ves 
sels.  Port  Hudson  and  Grand  Gulf  and  Vicksburg 
were  still  in  possession  of  the  South,  and  practic 
ally  all  that  Farragut  had  accomplished  in  his  bril 
liant  campaign  on  the  lower  Mississippi,  lasting  for 
nearly  a  year,  was  to  open  the  river  as  far  as  Port 
Hudson.  He  had  captured  New  Orleans,  and  his 
victory  over  the  forts  below  it  had  been  com 
plete,  because  they  had  surrendered  a  few  days 
after  New  Orleans  fell.  The  other  contests  might 


UP  THE  MISSISSIPPI— FARRAGUT   APPEARS.     71 

be  called  drawn  battles,  but  Farragut  in  going  by 
the  batteries  really  won  a  victory  in  each  case,  be 
cause  he  made  it  possible  for  Porter,  in  1863,  to 
finish  up  the  work  that  he  began  arid  conducted  so 
fearlessly. 


Attack  on  Grand  Gulf. 


CHAPTEK   V. 

DOWN   THE    MISSISSIPPI HELPING    THE   AKMY. 

SOON  after  the  civil  war  began  it  was  seen  that 
the  North  would  have  to  construct  a  fleet  of  river 
war  ships  for  use  on  the  Mississippi  and  its  many 
branches,  if  it  expected  to  defeat  the  South.  Such  a 
fleet  would  prevent  the  South  from  invading  the 
North,  and  would  assist  the  army  of  the  North  in  in 
vading  the  South.  It  would  also  keep  the  Southern 
rivers  open  to  a  great  extent,  so  that  the  South  could 
not  get  supplies  for  its  army  from  the  western  side 
of  the  Mississippi  River.  Those  river  war  ships  had 
to  be  of  a  kind  never  seen  before.  They  had  to  be 
shallow  and  flat,  so  as  to  move  on  the  rivers  when  the 
waters  were  low.  They  had  to  carry  guns  as  large  as 
the  guns  that  ocean-going  war  ships  carried.  They 
had  to  be  protected  with  a  crude  kind  of  armor,  be 
cause  the  fighting  they  had  to  do  was  to  be  at  short 
range. 

For  these  reasons  the  river  war  ships  were  curious- 
looking  things.  They  were  generally  rectangular  in 

shape,  the  hull  being  low  in  the  water.     From  the 

72 


DOWN  THE  MISSISSIPPI— HELPING  THE  ARMY.     73 

four  sides  a  thick  sloping  structure  was  raised,  look 
ing  something  like  the  sides  of  a  roof.  The  wheels 
of  these  boats  were  at  the  rear  and  covered  over  by 
the  roof.  Most  of  the  boats  had  iron  plating,  from 
one  to  three  inches  thick,  around  their  sloping  sides, 
which  were  backed  with  oak  from  two  to  three  feet 
in  thickness.  The  boilers  and  engines  were  generally 
put  as  far  down  in  the  hold  of  the  vessels  as  pos 
sible.  In  the  sloping  sides  there  were  cut  windows 
or  portholes  through  which  the  guns  fired  their 
shells. 

For  more  than  a  year  the  river  war  ships  were  un 
der  the  control  of  the  army  instead  of  the  navy.  It 
was  a  queer  way  of  doing  things,  but  seemed  best  at 
the  time.  Commander  John  Kodgers  reported,  by 
orders  from  Washington,  for  duty  to  General  John 
C.  Fremont  in  the  West,  and  began  to  create  the  river 
fleet  by  buying,  at  Cincinnati,  three  small  boats, 
which  were  changed  into  war  ships.  On  August  7, 
1861,  a  contract  was  signed  with  James  B.  Eads,  the 
engineer  afterward  famous,  to  build  seven  river  war 
ships  in  sixty-five  days.  It  has  been'  said  that  when 
the  contract  .was  signed  the  birds  were  flying  in  the 
trees  of  which  these  ships  were  made.  Eads  also  fixed 
over  a  river  snagboat — a  snagboat  was  a  vessel  used 
to  catch  the  floating  limbs  of  trees  that  came  down 
the  river — and  by  September,  1861,  the  North  had 
quite  a  little  fleet  assembled  at  Cairo,  111.,  for 


OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF   WAR. 


service  up  and  down  the  Mississippi,  Ohio,  and  their 
branches. 

Captain  A.  H.  Foote  was  appointed  to  command 


'•v* 


MISSOURI 


. 


Norfolk  < 
Belmont 


yaclueah 


Columbus 


\ 


i  FttPillo 


•II, •!,•!, -i  < 


SCENE  O"F  THB 
A1,  OPj:RAT 
OJTTJHE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI. 


the  flotilla.     He  arrived  on  September  6,  1861,  and 
four  days  later  came  the  first  fight  in  which  these 


DOWN  THE  MISSISSIPPI— HELPING  THE  ARMY.      75 

river  boats  were  engaged.  It  took  place  at  Nor 
folk,  Mo.,  eight  miles  below  Cairo,  where  General 
Grant  had  gone  to  drive  out  a  Southern  force.  Two 
of  Foote's  ships  shelled  the  Southern  artillery  and 
cavalry,  and  made  them  flee.  The  next  fight  in 
which  they  took  part  was  at  Belmont,  Mo.,  opposite 
Columbus,  Ky.  Grant  had  gone  to  Belmont  with 
four  thousand  soldiers,  but  the  South  had  seven  thou 
sand  men  there  before  the  battle  ended,  help  hav 
ing  arrived  from  Kentucky,  and  Grant  was  forced 
to  retreat.  The  gunboats  shelled  the  Southern  troops 
and  drove  them  off  while  Grant's  forces  were  be 
ing  taken  on  some  transports.  Had  it  not  been  for 
the  two  Northern  vessels,  Tyler  and  Lexington, 
which  supported  him,  Grant  would  probably  have 
been  beaten  badly,  and  might  have  been  captured. 

It  was  not  until  February,  1862,  that  what  might 
be  called  the  first  real  fight  of  the  river  flotilla 
occurred.  Up  the  Tennessee  River,  just  south  of 
the  Kentucky  line,  the  South  had  erected  Fort 
Henry.  Twelve  miles  across  the  country,  on  the 
Cumberland  River,  it  had  erected  Fort  Donelson. 
Cn  February  2d  Foote  started  up  the  Tennessee 
River  with  seven  war  ships,  escorting  the  transports 
carrying  Grant's  troops.  Foote  had  four  ironclads — 
the  St.  Louis,  which  was  the  first  ironclad  the  United 
States  had,  the  Essex,  Caronclelet,  and  Cincinnati — 
and  three  small  gunboats — the  Conestoga,  Tyler, 


DOWN  THE    MISSISSIPPI— HELPING  THE  ARMY.     77 

arid  Lexington.  The  troops  were  landed  at  Paducah, 
below  Fort  Henry.  On  the  next  day  a  flood  came 
down  the  river  and  swept  away  some  torpedoes  that 
had  been  placed  there  to  blow  up  the  Xorthern  boats. 
The  time  for  the  advance  came  on  February  6th. 
Foote  told  the  captains  of  his  boats  that  every  shot  they 
fired  cost  the  Government  eight  dollars,  and  therefore 
they  must  be  careful  not  to  waste  Government  prop 
erty.  Each  of  the  four  large  boats  could  fire  only  three 
guns  from  its  bow,  twelve  guns  in  all,  wiiile  the  fort 
could  fire  twenty  guns.  The  large  boats  ranged  them 
selves  in  a  line  across  the  river,  and  the  Cincinnati 
fired  three  shells  so  as  to  measure  the  distance  to  the 
fort. 

"  There  goes  twenty-four  dollars  wasted,"  said  a 
man  who  had  heard  Foote  tell  his  captains  to  be  care 
ful  about  the  use  of  powder  and  shot. 

The  little  boats  lay  down  the  river  behind  the 
ironclads.  The  fight  lasted  about  fifty  minutes.  It 
was  furious  from  the  start.  A  shot  from  the  fort 
struck  the  Essex  and  pierced  the  boiler.  At  once  the 
ship  was  filled  with  scalding  steam.  Twenty-nine 
men  were  scalded  terribly,  and  nearly  one  half  of 
them  died.  Most  of  the  other  war  ships  were  struck 
many  times,  but  only  two  men  were  killed  and  nine 
wounded  on  these  vessels.  As  the  Essex  was  drift 
ing  out  of  action,  one  of  her  seamen,  who  had  been 
scalded  and  was  dying,  heard  some  one  say  that  the 


78  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF   WAR. 

fort  had  surrendered.     He  leaped  to  his  feet  and  ex 
claimed  : 

"  Surrender !  I  must  see  that  with  my  own  eyes 
before  I  die." 

Then  the  poor  fellow  rushed  on  deck  and  sank  to 
his  knees  shouting  "  Glory  to  God!  "  He  died  in  a 
few  hours. 

General  Tilghman,  who  commanded  Fort  Henry, 
surrendered,  but  more  than  twenty-five  hundred  of 
his  men  escaped  across  the  country  to  Fort  IJonelson. 
Grant  and  his  forces  did  not  arrive  until  after  the  sur 
render,  and  so  it  was  a  naval  victory  entirely.  Some 
of  the  smaller  boats  of  Foote's  flotilla  then  went  up 
the  Tennessee  and  destroyed  some  Southern  steamers 
and  other  property. 

Grant's  next  move  was  against  Fort  Donelson. 
This  was  a  very  strong  earthwork.  Foote  and  his 
fleet  went  around  by  the  Ohio  and  came  up  the  Cum 
berland  to  help  Grant.  The  Carondelet,  under  com 
mand  of  Captain  Walke,  one  of  the  bravest  naval 
officers  in  the  war,  arrived  on  February  12th  below 
Fort  Donelson,  and  on  that  day  and  the  next  shelled 
the  earthworks  while  Grant  was  coming  up  on  land. 
Foote  arrived  on  February  13th,  with  the  St.  Louis, 
Louisville,  and  Pittsburg,  and  the  next  afternoon 
the  ships  advanced  to  attack  the  fort.  They  went 
up  to  within  four  hundred  yards.  A  shot  struck  the 
pilot  house  of  the  St.  Louis,  and  the  flying  splinters 


80  OUR  NAVY   IN  TIME   OP  WAR. 

wounded  Foote  in  the  arm  and  foot.  Another  shot 
cut  the  tiller  ropes  of  the  Louisville,  and  soon  the  St. 
Louis  and  Louisville  drifted  out  of  action.  'Flic  Pitts- 
burg  and  Carondolet  were  also  so  badly  damaged  that 
they  had  to  retire.  It  was  a  naval  defeat.  Fifty-four 
men  had  been  killed  or  wounded,  and  three  out  of  the 
four  pilots  on  the  ironclads  were  wounded  mortally. 
Grant  captured  the  fort  on  February  16th,  and  the 
fall  of  Fort  Donelson  was  an  army  victory. 

The  Ohio  and  the  rivers  flowing  into  it  from  the 
south  were  now  in  control  of  the  North,  and  the 
time  had  come  for  an  advance  down  the  Mississippi. 
Directly  opposite  the  dividing  line  between  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee,  and  in  a  bend  of  the  river,  was  an 
island  called  Island  No.  10.  The  Southern  forces  had 
fallen  back  as  far  as  this  and  had  fortified  it.  A  bar 
rier  of  sunken  vessels  stretched  from  the  island  to  the 
shore  on  the  north  side  of  the  bend.  On  the  south 
side  of  the  island  were  four  batteries  with  twenty- 
three  guns,  and  on  the  Tennessee  shore  were  six  bat 
teries  with  thirty-two  guns.  Foote  and  his  fleet 
arrived  above  the  island  early  in  March,  1862.  Gen 
eral  Pope,  of  the  Northern  army,  had  cut  off  the  re 
treat  of  the  Southern  forces  below  Island  No.  10,  ex 
cept  in  one  place,  and  he  wanted  to  have  troops  sent 
down  the  river  to  aid  him  in  shutting  off  the  retreat 
completely.  A  canal  was  dujr  across  the  swamps  above 
the  island  to  cut  off  the  bend  in  the  river,  so  that  the 


DOWN  THE   MISSISSIPPI— HELPING  THE   ARMY.      81 

transports  might  be  taken  through  that  way,  but  the 
plan  was  not  successful. 

Foote  held  back  for  a  long  time,  but  finally,  after 


Island  No.  10  and  Batteries. 

the  guns  in  the  battery  on  the  Tennessee  shore  had 
been  spiked  and  put  out  of  order  by  some  of  the 
TsTorthern  sailors  who  had  stolen  down  there  in  small 
boats  in  the  night,  and  after  the  floating  battery  had 
been  cut  loose  from  its  moorings,  he  told  "Walke, 
commanding  the  Carondelet,  to  go  ahead.  AValke 


82  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

put  extra  planks  on  the  deck  of  his  ship,  ran  chains 
along  its  sides,  placed  eighteen-inch  ropes  about 
the  pilot  house,  and  also  used  bales  of  hay  for 
further  protection  against  the  shells  of  the  Southern 
batteries.  He  started  on  the  night  of  April  10th, 
in  a  violent  thunderstorm.  It  was  as  black  as  ink 
on  the  river.  The  lightning  flashes  helped  to  show 
the  way.  Walke  had  placed  the  exhaust  steam  pipe 
in  the  wheelhouse  instead  of  in  the  smokestack,  as 
was  the  custom,  so  that  the  noise  from  the  exhaust 
should  not  attract  attention.  The  soot  in  the  smoke 
stack  became  dry  and  hot  as  a  result,  and  when  the 
Carondolet  was  opposite  the  first  battery  on  the  island 
the  soot  took  fire  and  blazed  up  and  became  a  flaming 
torch.  It  made  the  boat  a  splendid  target  for  the 
Southern  gunners.  The  cannon  roared.  The  flashes 
of  the  guns  mingled  with  the  flashes  of  lightning. 
The  booming  of  the  guns  was  added  to  the  peals  of 
thunder.  Walke  did  not  reply  to  the  shots,  and  final 
ly  slipped  past  the  island  in  safety.  At  one  time 
during  the  journey  a  flash  of  lightning  showed  to  the 
pilot  and  the  leadsman,  the  only  two  men  who  stood 
out  in  the  open,  that  the  ship  was  about  to  run  ashore. 
Had  it  not  been  for  this  lightning  flash,  the  Carori- 
delet  would  have  been  aground  in  a  few  seconds, 
directly  under  the  guns  of  a  battery.  Island  ISTo.  10 
surrendered  in  a  few  days  with  five  thousand  men. 
The  next  fortification  on  the  Mississippi  was  at 


84  OUR  NAVY   IN   TIME  OF  WAR. 

Fort  Pillow,  halfway  between  Island  .Xo.  10  and 
Memphis,  but  before  an  attack  was  made  on  it  two 
of  the  small  vessels  of  Foote's  flotilla,  the  Tyler  and 
the  Lexington,  went  up  the  Tennessee  Itiver  far  be 
yond  Fort  Henry  to  Pittsburg  Landing,  where  they 
helped  Grant  out  of  a  tight  place  on  April  6th. 
Grant  was  outnumbered,  and  his  troops  were  being- 
swept  back  in  confusion  from  their  base  on  the  river. 
The  advancing  Southern  forces  had  to  go  through  a 
ravine,  and  the  Tyler  and  Lexington  hurled  their 
shells  into  this  ravine  furiously  and  checked  the 
Southern  soldiers.  Hundreds  of  men  were  killed. 
The  two  boats  kept  throwing  shells  into  the  camp  of 
the  Southern  men  all  night  long.  The  battle  was  re- 
newed  the  next  day,  and  the  Southern  troops  retreated. 
It  was  on  April  14,  18(52,  that  Foote's  flotilla  an 
chored  six  miles  above  Fort  Pillow.  Every  day  Foote 
sent  a  mortar  boat  down  the  river,  with  a  war  ship  to 
guard  it,  to  shell  Fort  Pillow.  On  May  9th  Foote's 
wound  had  become  so  serious  that  he  had  to  give  up  his 
command,  and  Captain  Charles  H.  Davis  took  his  place. 
The  next  day  the  Cincinnati  went  down  the  river 
with  mortar  boat  No.  16  for  the  usual  bombardment. 
Early  in  the  year  the  Southern  leaders  had  con 
structed  what  they  called  a  river  defense  fleet,  con 
sisting  of  fourteen  small  boats  plated  in  front  with 
iron.  Their  boilers  and  machinery  were  protected  by 
cotton  bales,  There  were  eight  of  these  small  vessels 


DOWN  THE  MISSISSIPPI— HELPING  THE  ARMY.     85 

below  Fort  Pillow  on  the  morning  of  May  10th,  when 
the  Cincinnati  went  down  with  the  mortar  boat. 
Little  attention  had  been  paid  to  these  Southern  boats, 
because  they  had  never  attacked  the  Northern  vessels. 
No  sooner  had  the  mortar  boat  fired  its  first  shell  into 
Fort  Pillow  than  the  Southern  boats  were  seen  com 
ing  nj)  the  river.  The  Cincinnati  ran  out  into  mid 
stream  to  meet  them  all  alone.  The  Southern  vessel 
General  Bragg  ran  up  close  along  the  Arkansas  shore, 
turned,  and  ran  her  bow  into  the  Cincinnati.  The 
Cincinnati  threw  a  broadside  into  the  Bragg,  and  she 
drifted  out  of  action.  Two  other  Southern  boats,  the 
Price  and  Sumter,  also  ran  into  the  Cincinnati,  and 
by  that  time  the  vessels  of  the  Northern  fleet,  three 
miles  away,  came  hurrying  to  the  scene.  The  Cin 
cinnati  was  so  badly  damaged  that  she  ran  into  shoal 
water  and  sank.  The  Carondelet  put  the  Southern 
vessel  Price  out  of  action,  and  the  Northern  vessel 
Mound  City  sent  the  Southern  vessel  Van  Dora  hur 
rying  out  of  the  fight.  The  Mound  City  was  so  badly 
damaged  in  collision  with  the  Van  Dorn  that  she  had 
to  be  run  ashore  to  save  her.  There  were  five  more 
Southern  vessels  in  fighting  condition  against  three 
Northern  vessels  at  this  time,  but  the  Southern  vessels 
withdrew  down  the  river  just  when  they  had  a  chance 
to  gain  a  victory. 

The  Northern  fleet  was  strengthened  soon  after 
this  by  seven  river  steamers  which  had  been  made 


86  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

into  rains  on  the  Ohio  Iviver.  The  Northern  army 
had  made  such  advances  that  the  Southern  forces 
left  Fort  Pillow,  and  another  step  was  then  taken  in 
opening  the  Mississippi  from  the  north.  The  Southern 
vessels  had  retired  to  Memphis,  and  on  June  5,  1862, 
the  Northern  fleet  anchored  above  the  city.  The 
people  of  the  city  thronged  the  water  front  the  next 
morning  to  see  the  fight  between  the  Northern  and 
Southern  fleets.  It  was  to  be  a  rare  show  for  them. 
While  the  two  lines  of  vessels  were  shooting  at  each 
other,  two  of  the  Northern  rams,  which  had  just 
joined  the  fleet,  the  Queen  of  the  West  and  the  Mon 
arch,  dashed  through  the  smoke  and  into  the  line  of 
the  Southern  ships.  Colonel  Ellet,  in  command  of  the 
Queen  of  the  West,  struck  the  Southern  vessel  Lovell 
and  sank  her.  The  Southern  ram  Beauregard  struck 
the  Queen  of  the  West,  and  that  vessel  had  to  be  run 
ashore  to  save  her.  The  Southern  rams  Price  and 
Beauregard  then  tried  to  strike  the  Northern  ram 
Monarch,  but  she  slipped  away  from  them  and  they 
ran  into  each  other.  The  Price  had  to  go  to  shore  to 
keep  from  sinking.  The  Monarch  turned  and  struck 
the  Beauregard,  just  as  a  shot  from  the  Northern  ves 
sel  Benton  pierced  the  Beauregard's  boiler.  The 
Southern  vessel  surrendered  at  once,  and  sank  while 
she  was  being  towed  ashore,  many  of  her  scalded 
crew  being  drowned.  A  shot  so  injured  the  Southern 
vessel  Little  Rebel  that  she  also  had  to  run  to  shore. 


DOWN  THE  MISSISSIPPI— HELPING  THE  ARMY.     87 

Another  shot  sunk  the  Southern  ship  Thomson  also, 
and  the  Southern  boats  Bragg  and  Sumter  then  sur 
rendered.  The  Van  Dorn  was  the  only  one  of  the 
Southern  ships  that  escaped.  The  Northern  vessels 
had  only  four  men  wounded.  The  loss  on  the  South 
ern  vessels  was  never  known. 

It  was  the  first  naval  battle  in  which  the  ram  was 
used  extensively,  and  it  is  worth  noting  that  three1 
vessels  were  practically  destroyed  by  ramming  within 
fifteen  minutes  after  the  fight  began  in  earnest.  With 
the  victory  at  Memphis,  the  Mississippi  River  itself 
was  open  as  far  as  Yicksburg  from  the  north.  On 
July  1,  1862,  Flag-Officer  Davis  with  his  river  war 
ships  arrived  above  Vicksburg,  and  there  met  Farra- 
gut,  who  had  come  up  the  river  with  his  fleet.  But 
the  river  was  by  no  means  open  to  the  sea.  In  a  few 
days  Farragut  was  to  run  down  the  river  again,  in 
pursuit  of  the  ram  Arkansas,  while  the  Southern 
forces  were  to  continue  the  work  of  building  forts 
along  the  stream,  and  the  task  of  opening  the  river 
finally  occupied  more  than  a  year. 

Many  trips  were  made  up  the  various  rivers  that 
flow7  into  the  Mississippi  between  Memphis  and  New 
Orleans  about  this  time,  which  called  for  great  brav 
ery  from  the  Northern  sailors,  and  some  of  which 
were  not  entirely  successful.  One  of  these  Irips  was 
Ti])  the  White  "River,  iu  Arkansas,  where  at  Charles 
City  an  attack  was  made  on  Southern  earthworks. 


88  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF   WAR. 

Three  of  the  river  fleet,  with  a  transport  carrying  an 
Indiana  regiment,  appeared  there  on  June  29th,  two 
days  before  Davis  reached  Vicksburg.  A  shell  from 
the  earthworks  entered  the  boiler  of  the  Mound  City, 
the  leading  boat  of  the  expedition,  and  only  three 
officers  and  twenty-two  men  of  the  one  hundred  and 
severity-five  on  board  escaped  unhurt.  More  than 
forty  men  were  drowned  or  shot  when  they  jumped 
into  the  water,  and  thirty-two  died  of  their  wounds 
or  the  scalds  from  the  steam.  The  regiment,  however, 
which  had  been  landed,  carried  the  earthworks  by 
storm,  and  the  gunboats  that  were  uninjured  went 
sixty-three  miles  farther  up  the  river  and  opened  it. 
Davis  was  then  made  a  rear  admiral. 

Early  in  January,  1863,  a  force  was  sent  up  the 
Arkansas  River  to  capture  a  fort  called  Arkansas  Post. 
Nearly  five  thousand  troops  were  taken  along,  but  be 
fore  they  were  landed  the  vessels  of  the  expedition, 
on  January  9th  and  10th,  shot  the  earthworks  to 
pieces  and  they  surrendered. 

General  Grant  had  arrived  opposite  Vicksburg  on 
January  30,  1863,  and  he  and  Porter  formed  a  plan 
to  get  control  of  the  Mississippi  between  Vicksburg 
and  Port  Hudson,  which  had  by  this  time  been  well 
fortified.  Porter  sent  Colonel  Charles  E.  Ellet  with 
the  ram  Queen  of  the  West  down  past  Vicksburg  on 
the  morning  of  February  2d.  On  the  way  down,  and 
under  a  heavy  fire,  Ellet  stopped  and  rammed  the 


(JO  OUR  NAVY   IN  TIME   OF   WAR. 

steamer  Vicksburg,  which  was  moored  to  the  bank 
directly  under  the  forts,  and  then  passed  on  without 
losing  a  man.  A  few  days  later  Porter  then  sent  the 
Northern  vessel  Indianola  down.  Ellet  about  this 
time  took  the  Queen  of  the  West  up  the  Red  River, 
and  had  to  abandon  his  vessel  while  attacking  a  fort 
near  Gordon's  Landing.  He  escaped  in  a  prize  he  had 
captured.  The  Southerners  fixed  up  the  Queen  of  the 
"West,  which  had  been  abandoned  because  a  shot  had 
burst  its  steam  pipe,  and  with  two  or  three  of  their 
rams  went  after  the  Indianola,  which  was  trying  to 
escape  up  the  Mississippi  to  Porter's  fleet.  A  fight  oc 
curred  between  the  Indianola  on  one  side  and  the 
Queen  of  the  W^est  and  the  Webb  on  the  other,  and 
the  Indianola  was  run  ashore  to  keep  her  from  sink 
ing. 

The  Southern  forces  took  possession  of  the  In 
dianola  and  were  repairing  her  when  Porter  played  an 
amusing  trick  on  them.  He  took  a  coal  barge  and 
placed  some  pork  barrels  on  her  to  resemble  smoke 
stacks,  built  a  fire  in  the  barge,  and  sent  her  drifting 
down  the  river.  She  looked  like  a  terrible  monster. 
The  Southern  workmen  on  the  Indianola  thought  that 
they  and  the  Indianola  were  about  to  be  wiped  out 
of  existence.  The  Southern  officer  in  charge  of  the 
ram  set  the  two  big  guns  of  that  vessel  muzzle  to 
muzzle  and  fired  them,  and  two  days  later,  while  the 
dummy  war  ship  was  fast  aground,  they  blew  up 


DOWN  THE  MISSISSIPPI— HELPING  THE  ARMY.     91 

the   Indianola  in  their  fright,   destroying  her  com 
pletely. 

Late  in  February,  1863,  Porter  tried  to  get  con 
trol  of  that  country  east  of  the  Mississippi  through 
which  the  Yazoo  River  flows  from  north  to  south,  and 
which  was  filled  with  many  small  branching  streams. 
He  really  tried  to  send  some  of  his  war  ships  overland 
in  this  task.  He  had  the  levee  in  the  Mississippi  River 
cut  a  few  miles  below  Helena,  Ark.,  on  the  Mississippi 
side,  and  let  the  water  flow  across  country  into  Moon 
Lake,  from  wrhich  he  ordered  part  of  his  ships 
to  go  by  the  Coldwater  and  Tallahatchie  Rivers 
to  capture  Fort  Pemberton  above  the  town  of 
Yazoo.  It  was  nearly  a  month  after  the  levee 
was  cut  before  the  ten  war  ships  and  six  thousand 
troops  who  went  with  them  were  fairly  started.  For 
four  days  they  struggled  against  overhanging  trees, 
driftwood,  and  the  great  number  of  trees  which  the 
Southern  troops  felled  across  the  streams.  Some  of  the 
vessels  lost  their  smokestacks,  one  of  them  lost  her 
wheel,  and  all  were  damaged  by  striking  the  roots  in 
the  water  and  the  trees  overhead.  After  a  week's 
hard  work  the  boats  reached  Fort  Pemberton,  but  they 
were  obliged  to  retreat,  having  lost  between  twenty 
and  thirty  men  killed  and  wounded.  The  journey  back 
to  the  Mississippi  was  even  more  difficult  than  that 
to  Fort  Pemberton,  but  finally,  on  March  18th,  the 
vessels  got  back.  It  was  at  this  time,  on  March  14, 


.92  OUR  NAVY   IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

1863,  that  Farragut  had  run  past  the  works  at  Port 
Hudson  011  his  second  trip  up  the  river. 

Two  days  later,  on  March  16th,  Porter  thought 
that  he  would  try  an  overland  trip  himself  into  the 
Yazoo  country  with  his  vessels,  so  as  to  reach  Yazoo 
from  the  south.  With  thirteen  vessels  he  entered 
the  swampy  country  through  a  bayou,  and  foot  by 
foot  tried  to  force  his  way  through  the  shallow  water 
and  among  the  thick  growth  of  trees.  He  actually  had 
to  dig  a  channel  through  the  swamps  for  his  boats, 
and  cut  a  pathway  above  the  water  through  the  trees 
by  which  he  could  pass.  The  Southern  forces  cut  down 
trees  in  front  of  him  and  behind  him,  and  kept  shoot 
ing  at  him  in  small  parties,  and  he  was  four  days  in 
going  a  few  miles.  Then  he  tried  to  back  out.  This 
was  even  harder  work  than  trying  to  go  ahead,  and 
he  would  probably  have  lost  all  his  vessels  had  not 
General  Sherman,  who  was  in  that  region  with  his 
forces,  come  to  his  rescue,  driving  the  Southern  land 
forces  away. 

Porter  returned  to  his  station  above  Vicksburg, 
and  immediately  began  to  prepare  to  run  by  the  bat 
teries-  there,  following  Farragut's  example,  so  that  he 
might  work  with  General  Grant,  who  was  below 
Vicksburg  trying  to  capture  the  city.  He  lashed 
coal  barges  to  his  vessels,  and  undor  a  furious  fire  ran 
by  the  forts  in  safety  on  the  night  of  April  16,  1863. 
The  vessels  were  struck  by  about  one  in  ten  of  the  five 


DOWN  THE  MISSISSIPPI— HELPING  THE  ARMY.     93 

hundred  shots  that  were  fired  at  them,  but  there  was 
no  loss  of  life.  A  week  later  the  army  transports  ran 
down  the  river  and  most  of  Porter's  vessels  by  this 
time  were  below  Vicksburg.  A  short  distance  below 
Vicksburg  the  Southerners  had  fortified  Grand  Gulf. 
The  forts  were  at  a  bend  in  the  river  and  were  on 
bluifs  seventy-five  feet  high.  It  was  necessary  to  cap 
ture  this  place  before  Grant  could  take  Vicksburg. 
It  had  become  one  of  the  strongest  positions  of  the 
South  on  the  river.  On  April  29th  Porter  attacked 
the  forts.  The  battle  lasted  five  and  one  half  hours, 
and  Porter  retired  with  a  loss  of  eighteen  killed  and 
fifty-six  wounded. 

Being  unable  to  destroy  the  forts,  Porter  tried 
Farragut's  tactics  again,  and  on  that  night  ran  by  the 
place,  losing  only  one  man.  Grant  and  Porter  now 
worked  together,  and  on  May  3d  Grand  Gulf  was 
given  up  by  the  Southern  forces.  Grant  and  Porter  at 
once  advanced  toward  Vicksburg,  and  began  a  series 
of  attacks  on  the  place,  which  finally  fell  on  July  4th. 
Five  days  later  Port  Hudson  fell,  and  then  the  Missis 
sippi  was  really  open  from  the  Ohio  to  the  Gulf,  after 
a  campaign  that  had  lasted  more  than  a  year. 

There  was  more  or  less  fighting  for  a  year  and  a 
half  afterward  up  the  various  streams  that  flow  into 
the  Mississippi,  especially  on  the  west  side,  but  ex 
cept  in  one  case  they  were  small  contests.  The  one 
exception  was  what  is  known  as  the  Red  River  ex- 


94  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

pedition.  The  French  had  taken  the  city  of  Mexico, 
and  were  trying  to  get  Texas  to  secede  from  the  South. 
The  North  decided  to  send  General  Banks  up  the  Red 
River,  and  in  March,  1804,  Porter,  with  Ids  fleets  and 
the  transports  carrying  the  army,  started  to  take  pos 
session  of  the  country  in  and  around  Shreveport,  near 
the  boundary  between  Texas  and  Louisiana.  The 
expedition  reached  Alexandria  on  March  15th,  and 
established  a  garrison.  Passing  on,  there  was  some 
sharp  fighting,  but  the  Southern  forces  were  repulsed 
along  the  banks,  and  the  boats  finally  came  to  a  place 
where  there  were  two  rapids.  The  water  was  very 
low,  but  after  much  hard  work  ten  of  the  gunboats 
and  thirty  of  the  transports  passed  up  the  river.  On 
account  of  the  dry  season  the  river  fell  rapidly,  and 
in  a  few  days  it  was  seen  that  it  would  be  impos 
sible  to  go  up  the  stream  very  much  farther.  There 
was  so  very  little  water  above  the  rapids  by  this  time 
that  the  boats  could  not  come  down  again,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  the  entire  force  was  caught  in  a  very 
bad  trap. 

There  was  one  man  on  the  expedition,  however, 
who  solved  the  problem  of  rescuing  the  boats.  He 
was  Lieutenant-Colonel  Joseph  Bailey,  of  a  Wiscon 
sin  regiment.  He  had  been  a  lumberman,  and  knew 
how  to  get  large  rafts  over  shallow  places  in  streams. 
lie  took  two  thousand  Maine  soldiers  who  knew  some 
thing  about  lumbering,  and  built  dams  across  the 


DOWN  THE   MISSISSIPPI— HELPING  THE  ARMY.     95 

river,  using  brandies  of  trees  and  logs,  which  he 
placed  in  cribs,  lie  left  an  opening  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  wide  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  which  at 
the  place  of  these  rapids  was  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  across.  He  intended  to  sink  some  coal  barges  in 
the  opening.  The  water  had  backed  up  to  a  depth 
of  more  than  six  feet  in  the  eight  days  he  had  been  at 
work,  and  just  as  the  coal  barges  were  being  sunk 
the  pressure  swept  them  away.  The  gunboat  Lex 
ington  was  only  a  short  distance  above  the  opening  in 
the  dam  through  which  the  water  was  now  sweeping 
in  a  great  flood,  and  Admiral  Porter  shouted  to  the 
captain  of  the  vessel  to  go  through.  The  Lexington 
started  at  once;  a  great  hush  fell  upon  the  thousands 
of  soldiers  upon  the  banks,  but  after  much  tossing  and 
swaying  the  vessel  passed  through  in  safety.  Cheer 
after  cheer  greeted  the  boat  and  her  crew.  Three  of 
the  other  vessels  followed  the  Lexington.  Bailey 
built  two  small  dams  above  the  rapids  and  finally  suc 
ceeded  in  raising  the  water  over  the  rapids  five  feet, 
and  all  the  flotilla  passed  down  out  of  the  trap.  This 
practically  ended  the  warfare  on  a  large  scale  on  the 
Mississippi  arid  its  branches. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    GREAT    FIGHT    AT    MOBILE. 

AFTER  Farragut  had  left  the  Mississippi,  his 
chief  work  was  to  get  control  of  the  various  harbors  in 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  still  in  possession  of  the  South. 
He  made  a  short  visit  to  the  North,  also,  for  a  rest. 
On  October  15,  1862,  having  returned  to  his  work, 
he  reported  to  Washington  that  Galveston,  Corpus 
Christi,  and  Sabine  Pass  had  been  occupied  by  his 
forces  without  bloodshed.  At  the  end  of  November 
he  wrote: 

"  We  shall  spoil  unless  we  have  a  fight  occasion- 
ally." 

The  fight  did  come  very  soon,  and  it  resulted  in  a 
victory  for  the  South.  Two  small  river  steamers, 
assisted  by  a  land  force,  attacked  four  steamers  of  the 
North  and  a  garrison  of  Northern  soldiers  at  Galves 
ton,  early  on  the  morning  of  January  1,  1863.  The 
garrison  was  captured,  and  one  of  the  Northern  ves 
sels,  the  Westfield,  was  blown  up  by  her  officers,  and 
another,  the  Harriet  Lane,  was  surrendered  after  her 
captain  and  executive  officers  had  been  killed.  A 


Blakely 


MAP  OF 

MOBILE    BAY 


Line  showing  22ft.  of  Water 
13-    ««       ..     - 


i      /      c      o 


98  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME   OF  WAR. 

short  time  afterward  Sabine  Pass  was  also  captured 
from  the  .North.  The  Northern  forces  along  the 
coast  of  Texas  had  been  checked.  Farragut  then  at 
once  decided  to  strike  the  South  its  hardest  blow  in 
the  waters  of  the  Gulf.  That  task  was  to  capture 
Mobile.  It  resulted  in  a  victory  for  him.  It  was  one 
of  the  greatest  naval  battles  ever  fought.  No  naval 
commander  in  history  up  to  that  time  had  ever  had  so 
powerful  a  fleet  under  him.  It  is  upon  the  battle  of 
Mobile  Bay  and  his  work  in  the  Mississippi  below 
New  Orleans  that  the  great  fame  of  Farragut  rests. 

Mobile  is  at  the  head  of  a  great  pear-shaped  and 
shallow  bay.  The  entrance  to  the  bay  is  thirty  miles 
below  the  city.  The  channel  at  the  entrance  is  two 
thousand  feet  wide.  The  distance  from  one  point  of 
land  to  the  other  at  the  entrance  is  about  three  miles. 
The  channel  runs  close  to  the  eastern  side  of  the  en 
trance,  and  there  the  South  had  a  very  strong  fort  arid 
earthworks,  called  Fort  Morgan.  On  the  western 
entrance  to  the  harbor  was  Fort  Gaines,  on  Dauphin 
Island,  and  not  far  from  it  was  a  small  fort  called 
Fort  Powell,  on  Tower  Island.  Fort  Morgan  was 
five-sided,  and  had  forty  guns  in  its  main  battery.  It 
was  also  fortified  with  sand  bags,  and  it  was  one  of  the 
strongest  forts  that  the  Northern  vessels  had  to  attack 
in  the  entire  war.  The  other  forts  at  the  entrance  to 
the  harbor  played  only  a  small  part  in  this  fighting. 

The  South  had  long  expected  an  attack  on  Mobile, 


s 


100  OUR  NAVY   IN   TIME   OP   WAR. 

and  it  began  to  build,  late  in  1863,  another  of  the 
ranis  like  the  Merrimac.  She  was  called  the  Ten 
nessee.  She  was  the  strongest  of  the  vessels  of  this 
kind,  and  did  more  fighting  than  any  of  them.  She 
was  two  hundred  and  nine  feet  long,  forty-eight  feet 
wide,  and  drew  fourteen  feet  of  water.  On  the 
hull  was  built  a  structure  with  sloping  sides.  This 
was  seventy-nine  feet  long  and  twenty-nine  feet 
wide.  It  was  called  a  casemate.  The  sides  of 
this  structure  were  made  of  twenty-five  inches  of 
wood,  on  which  were  placed  iron  armor  plates  six 
inches  thick  at  the  bow  and  five  inches  thick  else 
where.  The  hull  of  the  vessel  was  armored  for  six 
feet  under  water,  and  a  ridge  or  a  knuckle  stuck  out 
from  the  vessel  two  feet  under  the  water  around  its 
four  sides.  She  carried  six  rifled  guns.  One  fired  from 
the  bow  and  another  from  the  stern,  and  there  were 
two  on  each  side.  The  shutters  over  the  portholes 
for  the  guns  were  of  iron  five  inches  thick.  She  was 
a  very  strong  vessel,  but  she  had  two  great  faults. 
One  was  that  the  chains  which  controlled  the  rudder 
were  on  the  outside  of  the  boat  where  they  could  be 
shot  away,  and  the  other  was  the  poor  engine  that 
was  in  the  boat.  The  highest  speed  the  Tennessee 
could  make  was  six  knots  an  hour. 

This  vessel  was  finished  in  May,  1864,  and  had 
to  be  fairly  lifted  over  a  mud  bank  on  the  way  from 
$ie  river  where  she  was  built  to  the  bay,  a  short  dis- 


THE  GREAT  FIGHT   AT   MOBILE.  101 

tance  below.  In  addition  to  the  Tennessee  the  South 
had  three  small  gunboats  in  Mobile  Bay.  They  were 
the  Morgan,  Gaines,  and  Selma.  Farragut  had  ar 
rived  finally  in  front  of  Mobile  on  January  18,  1864. 
He  had  to  wait  six  months  before  he  had  secured  all 
the  vessels  that  he  wanted  and  before  the  army  was 
ready  to  assist  him  in  the  work  around  Mobile.  On 
the  night  of  May  18th  the  Tennessee  had  come  down 
the  harbor  to  attack  his  fleet,  but  she  ran  on  a  mud 
bank,  and  when  she  got  off  was  towed  near  Fort  Mor 
gan,  where  she  waited  for  Farragut  to  make  the 
attack. 

The  South  took  other  measures  to  keep  Farragut 
out  of  the  bay.  Three  rows  of  torpedoes  were  planted 
across  the  channel.  Forty-six  of  the  torpedoes  were 
made  of  beer  kegs,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-four 
were  made  of  tin.  These  torpedoes  were  supposed  to 
explode  when  any  vessel  struck  them.  An  open 
space,  only  one  hundred  yards  wide  and  less  than 
three  hundred  yards  from  the  water  battery  at  Fort 
Morgan,  was  left  open  for  blockade  runners  and  other 
friendly  vessels  to  reach  Mobile,  and  through  this  nar 
row  space,  directly  under  the  guns  of  the  large  fort, 
Farragut  had  to  pass.  Some  of  the  officers  of  the  fleet 
had  secured  one  of  the  torpedoes  and  had  brought  it 
to  Farragut.  He  had  disliked  the  use  of  torpedoes  in 
war.  The  one  that  was  brought  him  was  placed  on 
his  cabin  table  and  rolled  off.  It  exploded  as  it  struck 


102  OUR  NAVY  IN   TIME   OF  WAR. 

the  floor,  Imt  did  no  damage.      Farragut  jumped  up 
and  said  to  the  officer  who  brought  it  in: 

"  Young  man,  don't  send  any  more  of  those  in 
fernal  machines  to  me;  I  thought  I  was  shot." 

•Late  in  July  four  monitors,  for  which  Farragut 
had  been  waiting,  arrived,  and  lie  at  once  decided  to 
prepare  for  his  attack.  He  ordered  all  the  wooden  ves 
sels  of  his  fleet  to  be  protected  with  chains  and  bags  of 
sand  so  far  as  possible.  All  the  small  boats  were 
lowered  on  the  side  away  from  Fort  Morgan,  and  nets 
were  stretched  to  keep  splinters  from  flying.  Alto 
gether  Farragut  had  twenty-seven  vessels.  He  placed 
his  four  monitors  in  the  first  division  of  the  fleet. 
The  second  division  consisted  of  fourteen  wooden  ves 
sels.  The  remaining  vessels  of  the  fleet  were  left  in  a 
squadron  by  themselves  outside  the  bay  to  bombard 
Fort  Morgan,  and  did  not  attempt  to  enter  with  Farra 
gut.  Farragut  wanted  to  place  his  flagship,  the  Hart 
ford,  immediately  behind  the  line  of  monitors,  but 
his  officers  persuaded  him  to  allow  the  Brooklyn  to 
take  that  position,  because  she  had  an  attachment  to 
the  bow  with  which  to  catch  the  torpedoes.  Farragut 
consented  at  last  and  went  second  in  the  division. 
Each  of  the  large  wooden  vessels  had  a  smaller  one 
lashed  to  the  side  away  from  Fort  Morgan,  for  pro 
tection  to  the  smaller  vessel  and  also  to  assist  the  larger 
vessel  in  case  of  accident  to  machinery. 

On  August  4th  Farragut  decided  to  make  the 


THE  GREAT  FIGHT  AT   MOBILE.  1Q3 

start  early  the  next  morning  if  the  weather  condi 
tions  were  favorable.  lie  wanted  a  southwest  wind. 
so  that  the  smoke  would  be  blown  from  his  ships 
against  Fort  Morgan.  Before  he  went  to  bed  on  the 
night  of  August  4th  he  wrote  to  his  wife: 

"  1  am  going  into  Mobile  in  the  morning,  if  God 
is  my  leader,  as  I  hope  he  is,  and  "in  him  I  place  my 
trust.  If  he  thinks  it  is  the  place  for  me  to  die,  I 
am  ready  to  submit  to  his  will.  God  bless  and  pre 
serve  you  if  anything  should  happen  to  me." 

Farragut  did  not  sleep  well,  and  when  the  orderly 
came  in  his  room  during  the  night  he  asked  the  direc 
tion  of  the  wind.  The  orderly  said  it  was  southwest, 
and  Farragut  replied: 

u  Very  well,  then  we  will  go  in  in  the  morning." 

At  5.30  A.  M.  he  and  Dray  ton,  the  captain  of  his 
ship,  had  finished  their  breakfast,  and  Farragut  quiet 
ly  remarked : 

"  Well,  Drayton,  we  might  as  well  get  under 
way." 

Signals  were  hoisted  immediately.  The  men  in 
Fort  Morgan  and  on  the  Southern  ships  saw  them, 
and  knew  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  great  fight. 
The  ram  Tennessee  was  in  command  of  Admiral 
Buchanan,  who  had  commanded  the  Merrimac  in  the 
first  day's  fight  of  that  vessel  at  Hampton  Roads. 
Buchanan  called  his  men  together  and  said  to  them: 


18.  Admiral'!  bary,  lovtl 

14.  Mtmonyaltf'a 

15.  Kenntbec 

16.  Quipe* 

17.  /tatca 


IB.  <7abn« 


DIAGRAM  OF  THE 
BATTLE  OF 

MOBILE    BAY 

PREPARED  BY  REAR-ADMIRAL  JOUKT7. 


THE  GREAT   FIGHT   AT   MOBILE.  105 

"  Now,  men,  the  enemy  is  coming,  and  I  want  you 
to  do  your  duty.  If  I  fall,  lay  me  on  one  side  and  go 
on  with  the  fight  and  never  mind  me,  but  whip  and 
sink  the  Yankees  or  fight  until  you  sink  yourselves, 
but  do  not  surrender." 

It  was  6.47  o'clock  when  the  first  vessel  of  the 
Northern  fleet,  the  monitor  Tecumseh,  fired  at  Fort 
Morgan.  Slowly  the  Northern  vessels  approached  the 
narrow  opening  off  Fort  Morgan,  but  it  was  not  until 
7.07  o'clock  that  the  fort  fired  its  first  shot  in  reply. 
It  struck  the  Hartford  and  killed  nearly  all  of  the 
crew  at  a  gun.  Almost  instantly  every  gun  in  the 
fleet  that  could  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  fort  was 
in  action.  There  was  a  terrific  fire.  By  this  time  the 
Tecumseh  had  approached  the  opening  in  the  channel. 
There  was  a  bend  in  the  channel,  and  Captain  Craven, 
of  the  Tecumseh,  saw  that  he  could  not  turn  his  un 
wieldy  vessel  if  he  went  through  the  opening,  which 
was  marked  by  a  buoy.  The  ram  Tennessee  had  come 
out  from  behind  Fort  Morgan,  and  was  headed  for  the 
Tecumseh.  Craven  paid  little  attention  to  the  fort, 
and  started  to  meet  the  ram.  He  said  to  his  pilot: 

"  It  is  impossible  that  the  admiral  means  us  to 
go  inside  the  buoy;  I  can  not  turn  my  ship." 

Craven  knew  no  fear  and  did  not  hesitate,  but 
started  straight  for  the  Tennessee  across  the  line  of 
torpedoes.  Had  he  gone  in  the  channel  and  stuck 
fast  the  day  would  have  been  a  failure,  because  the 


106  OUR  XAVY   IN  TIME  OK  WAR. 

other  ships  could  not  have  gone  by.  The  rest  of  the 
fleet  saw  the  Tecumseh  going  straight  across  the  tor 
pedo  nest.  For  a  time  he  seemed  to  be  safe,  and  it 
was  hoped  that,  he  might  get  through  some  opening, 
but  suddenly  there  was  a  mighty  roar  and  the  bow  of 
the  Tecumseh  was  seen  to  be  lifted  in  the  air.  Then 
it  plunged  into  the  water,  and  the  stern  of  the  vessel 
showed  above  the  surface.  The  ship  took  a  sharp 
dive  and  disappeared.  Craven  and  his  pilot  John  Col 
lins  started  for  the  small  opening  in  the  deck  from  the 
pilot  house.  They  reached  there  at  the  same  time, 
and  the  brave  man  Craven  showed  how  noble  he  was 
when  he  drew  back  and  told  the  pilot  to  go  first. 
There  was  only  time  for  one  of  them  to  be  saved  and 
Craven  said: 

"  After  you,  pilot." 

Collins  had  scarcely  reached  the  deck  before  the 
ship  went  down  and  Craven  was  drowned  with  ninety- 
two  of  his  men.  Some  of  the  men  on  the  other 
vessels  of  the  fleet  thought  it  was  the  Tennessee 
that  had  been  sunk.  They  shouted  that  the  Ten 
nessee  had  gone  down,  and  cheer  after  cheer  went  up 
from  the  Northern  ships;  but  the  cheers  were  soon 
silenced  when  word  was  passed  that  it  was  the  Te 
cumseh.  Farragut  at  once  ordered  a  boat  cleared 
away  to  rescue  some  of  the  men  in  the  water,  but  a 
boat  had  already  been  sent.  General  Richard  L. 
Page,  who  was  in  command  of  Fort  Morgan,  splen- 


108  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

did  man  that  he  was,  saw  the  small  boat  and  ordered 
his  men  not  to  fire  upon  it  because  it  was  engaged  in 
saving  drowning  men.  After  the  Tecumseh  had  gone 
down  the  other  monitors  passed  over  the  place  where 
it  had  sunk  and  went  past  the  torpedoes.  They  were 
ready  then  to  fight  the  Tennessee  or  to  help  the  rest  of 
the  fleet. 

The  Brooklyn  now  approached  the  narrow  opening 
in  the  channel.  Her  captain  saw  some  floats  that 
looked  like  torpedoes,  and  he  at  once  stopped  his  en 
gines  and  hesitated  about  going  in.  Farragut  was 
close  behind  on  the  Hartford,  and  it  seemed  as  if 
there  would  be  a  collision.  The  Richmond  was 
close  behind  the  Hartford,  and  Farragut  feared  that 
it  too  would  come  up  and  get  into  the  tangle.  In 
his  desire  to  see  all  that  was  going  on,  Farragut  had 
climbed  far  up  into  the  shrouds,  and  Captain  Dray- 
ton,  fearing  that  if  he  were  wounded  or  killed  he 
would  be  lost  by  falling  overboard,  sent  Signal-Quar 
termaster  Knowles  up  to  lash  Farragut  to  the  shrouds. 
Farragut  said  to  never  mind  him,  but  Knowles  went 
ahead  and  tied  him  to  the  rigging.  When  the 
Brooklyn  hesitated  she  swung  round,  and  Farragut 
shouted  to  her  captain: 

"What's  the  matter?" 

"  Torpedoes,"  was  the  answer. 

Farragut  said  not  to  mind  the  torpedoes,  but  to 
follow  him,  and  then  he  showed  what  a  great  fighter 


THE   GKEAT   FIGHT   AT   MOBILE.  1QQ 

and  sailor  he  was.  He  took  his  ship  out  of  the  line  so 
as  to  avoid  a  collision  with  the  Brooklyn,  and  headed 
straight  for  the  torpedoes.  Knowing  the  fate  of  the 
Teciunseh,  every  man  on  the  fleet  who  saw  Farragut 
making  this  dash  expected  to  see  his  vessel  blown  to 
pieces.  Fortunately  the  tin  torpedoes  across  which 
Farragut  drove  his  vessel  had  become  rusted  and  the 
caps  did  not  explode.  The  Hartford  passed  over  the 
line  in  safety,  and  the  Richmond,  which  had  been 
following,  avoided  a  collision  with  the  Brooklyn  by 
backing  and  then  taking  the  path  through  which  the 
Hartford  had  gone.  The  scene  at  this  time  was  ter 
rible.  All  the  guns  on  ships  and  on  shore  were  being 
fired  as  fast  as  possible,  great  clouds  of  smoke  were 
drifting  from  the  vessels  to  land,  the  noise  was  like  a 
hundred  thunderstorms  put  together,  the  men  were 
stripped  to  their  waists  as  they  fought,  and  all  the 
while  officers  were  going  among  them  saying, 
"  Steady,  boys,  take  your  time."  Men  were  being 
killed  or  wounded  by  the  dozen,  but  no  one  faltered, 
from  admiral  to  messenger  boy. 

The  monitors,  which  had  passed  the  torpedoes 
safely,  ran  close  to  the  fort  to  try  to  silence  the  guns 
which  were  making  sad  havoc  on  the  Hartford  and 
Brooklyn.  Every  shot  from  the  fort  seemed  to  result 
in  the  death  of  some  of  the  brave  men  on  the  large 
ships.  At  last  Fort  Morgan  was  passed.  It  required 
about  an  hour  to  accomplish  this  task.  The  Tennessee 


HO  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF   WAR. 

was  still  up  tlie  bay,  its  fearless  commander  waiting 
to  fight  tlie  entire  Northern  fleet.  The  Southern 
gunboats  had  begun  to  annoy  the  Hartford,  which 
was  now  in  the  lead,  and  Farragut  ordered  the  little 
vessel  Metacomet,  which  had  been  lashed  to  the  Hart 
ford,  to  cut  loose  and  destroy  the  small  Southern 
ships.  The  Metacomet  soon  disabled  the  Gaines  and 
drove  the  Morgan  under  the  protection  of  the  fort. 
The  Metacomet  then  pursued  the  Sclma  into  shoal 
water.  The  bottom  was  very  soft,  however,  and  the 
Metacomet,  under  a  heavy  pressure  of  steam,  pushed 
through  it  and  overtook  the  Selina.  A  leadsman  had 
been  stationed  on  the  deck  of  the  Metacomet  to  test 
the  depth  of  water,  and  he  kept  calling  out  that  the 
water  was  too  shallow  for  the  Metacomet  to  go  far 
ther.  Lieutenant  Jouett,  who  was  in  command  of  the 
Metacomet,  was  annoyed  at  this  and  he  turned  to  one 
of  his  assistants  and  said: 

"Call  that  man  in;  he  makes  me  nervous." 
The  Metacomet  went  on  and  made  the  Selma  sur 
render.  The  Selma  was  commanded  by  Captain  P. 
U.  Murphy,  who  in  the  former  days  of  the  United 
States  navy  had  been  a  shipmate  of  Jouett,  and  as 
a  superior  officer  had  been  very  kind  to  him.  Before 
the  fight  began  Jouett  srad  that  he  intended  to  cap 
ture  Murphy  if  he  could.  TTc  remembered  that 
Murphy  was  very  fond  of  eating  crabs,  and  he  resolved 
to  give  Murphy  a  treat.  So  while  the  fighting  was  go- 


THE  GREAT   FIGHT  AT   MOBILE.  m 

ing1  on,  Jonctt.  bad  his  cook  fixing  up  a  nice  breakfast 
for  .Murphy.  After  the  Selina  surrendered,  Murphy 
came  on  board  the  Metacomet  to  surrender  his  sword. 
Jouett  had  seen  him  coming  and  had  sent  away  most 
of  the  officers  and  men  from  the  quarter-deck,  so  that 
very  few  should  actually  see  Murphy  surrender.  He 
wanted  to  spare  Murphy's  feelings  as  much  as  pos 
sible.  As  Murphy  reached  the  deck  he  drew  himself  up 
to  his  full  height,  and  with  great  dignity  held  out  his 
sword  and  began  to  make  a  speech  saying  that  he 
had  yielded.  Jouett  swept  the  sword  aside,  took 
Murphy's  hand  cordially,  put  his  arm  around  Mur 
phy's  shoulders,  and  said: 

"  Why,  Murphy,  I  am  glad  to  see  you.  Come  on; 
your  breakfast  lias  been  waiting  for  you  for  some 
time." 

They  went  into  the  cabin  and  as  Murphy  saw 
the  table  already  set  for  him,  he  turned  to  Jouett  and 
said : 

"  Why  didn't  you  let  me  know  that  yon  had  all 
this?  I  would  have  surrendered  sooner." 

The  Hartford  was  now  sweeping  up  the  bay,  and 
the  Tennessee  tried  to  ram  her.  The  Hartford  was 
quicker,  and  avoided  the  vessel  and  passed  on,  having 
given  the  ram  a  broadside.  The  Tennessee  then 
fought  each  Xorthern  vessel  as  it  passed.  The  Mo- 
nongahela,  of  the  Northern  fleet,  was  in  collision  with 
the  Tennessee,  but  little  damage  resulted.  The 


112  OUK  NAVY  IN  TIME   OF  WAR., 

Northern  vessel  which  suffered  most  in  passing  the 
Tennessee  was  the  Oneida.  Her  boiler  was  pierced 
by  a  shot,  and  the  Galena,  to  which  she  had  been 
lashed,  was  unable  to  escape  the  Tennessee.  The 
Winnebago,  one  of  the  monitors,  saw  the  plight  of  the 
Oneida,  and  Captain  Stevens,  of  the  Winnebago,  who 
had  given  up  the  command  of  the  Oneida  so  that  his 
friend  Commander  Mullaney  might  take  the  Oneida, 
ran  down  with  the  Winnebago  and  came  between  the 
Tennessee  and  the  Oneida,  saving  the  latter  vessel 
from  destruction.  Stevens  performed  a  remarkable 
part  during  all  the  fighting.  He  would  not  remain 
under  cover,  and  kept  walking  back  and  forth  in  the 
open  between  the  turrets  of  the  Wiunebago.  When 
he  saved  the  Oneida,  the  crew  of  that  vessel  gave  him 
three  rousing  cheers.  He  stepped  to  the  side  of  his 
boat,  took  off  his  hat  and  bowed,  as  if  he  was  acknowl 
edging  a  cheer  in  a  parade. 

All  the  vessels  had  now  passed  the  fort  and  the 
Tennessee,  and  they  came  to  anchor  four  miles  up  the 
bay  for  a  rest  and  to  clean  up  the  ships,  as  well  as  to 
take  care  of  the  wounded  and  the  dead.  Farragut 
ordered  most  of  the  men  to  go  to  breakfast  so  as  to 
prepare  for  the  final  struggle  of  the  morning.  Cap 
tain  Drayton  said  to  him  that  all  the  work  of  the 
morning  counted  for  nothing  so  long  as  the  Tennessee 
was  not  destroyed.  Farragut  said  he  knew  that,  and 
that  as  soon  as  the  men  were  through  with  breakfast 


OUR  NAVY   IN  TIME   OF   WAR. 

he  was  going  after  the  Tennessee.  Suddenly  a  cry  was 
heard : 

"  The  ram  is  coming!  " 

Farragut  watched  the  Tennessee  intently.  He 
thought  she  might  go  outside  the  bay  after  the  small 
vessels  he  had  left  there.  To  his  relief  he  saw  her 
turn  toward  the  fleet. 

"  "No,  Buck  is  coming  here,"  he  said. 

Then  he  gave  orders  for  the  Monongahela,  the 
Lackawanna,  and  Ossipee  to  ram  the  Tennessee  with 
him.  The  Monongahela  struck  the  Tennessee  on  the 
starboard  side  and  then  swung  off  and  gave  her  a 
broadside  of  shells.  Then  the  Lackawanna  struck  her 
on  the  port  side.  The  Hartford  came  swinging  down, 
and  it  looked  as  if  they  would  meet  bow  to  bow. 
They  sheered  off,  however,  and  a  glancing  blow  re 
sulted.  At  this  time  Midshipman  John  C.  Watson 
lashed  Farragut  to  the  rigging  once  more.  The 
Lackawanna,  in  trying  to  hit  the  Tennessee  a  second 
blow,  struck  the  Hartford  instead.  This  annoyed 
Farragut,  and  he  told  his  signal  officer  to  order  the 
Lackawanna  to  keep  out  of  the  way. 

The  Tennessee  had  been  doing  great  damage  with 
her  guns  to  the  wooden  ships,  but  the  three  monitors, 
Chickasaw,  Winnebago,  and  Manhattan,  now  came 
rushing  to  the  attack.  The  Manhattan  and  Winne 
bago  were  soon  disabled,  but  the  Chickasaw  ran 
around  to  the  stern  of  the  Tennessee  and  finished  her 


Hartford 


Chickasaw 


Diagram  showing  the  different  Points  at  which 
the  Tennessee  was  rammed  by  Farragut's  vessels. 


116  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

up.  The  shutter  of  the  rear  gun  in  the  Tennessee 
had  become  jammed,  her  smokestack  had  been  shot 
away,  her  deck  house  was  full  of  smoke  and  gases,  the 
heat  was  terrific,  and  a  shot  from  the  Chickasaw  had 
carried  away  the  chains  to  her  rudder,  so  that  with  the 
damage  that  had  been  done  to  her  by  the  ramming 
she  was  helpless.  A  splinter  had  been  driven  against 
Admiral  Buchanan's  leg  and  had  broken  in  it.  Most 
of  the  shutters  to  the  portholes  were  now  jammed, 
the  vessel  was  leaking,  and  Captain  Johnson,  who  had 
taken  charge  of  her,  could  neither  shoot  his  guns  nor 
steer  his  ship.  The  Northern  vessels  were  pouncing 
upon  the  Tennessee  like  a  pack  of  hounds  on  a  dying 
fox  at  bay.  For  twenty  minutes  Johnson  had  been 
unable  to  shoot  a  gun,  and  he  went  to  Buchanan,  who 
was  under  the  surgeon's  care,  and  said  he  thought  they 
ought  to  surrender. 

"  Very  well,"  said  Buchanan,  "  if  you  can  not  do 
them  any  further  injury,  Johnson,  you  had  better  sur 
render." 

Johnson  went  on  deck  and  waved  a  white  flag  just 
as  the  Northern  vessel  Ossipee  was  coming  down  to 
ram  the  Tennessee.  Commander  Le  Roy,  of  the 
Ossipee,  saw  the  white  flag  too  late  to  avoid  a  collision, 
but  he  turned  his  ship  so  that  the  result  was  not 
serious.  Le  Hoy  and  Johnson  had  been  old  friends 
in  the  navy  before  the  war,  and  when  he  saw  Johnson, 
Le  Roy  shouted; 


THE  GREAT   FIGHT   AT  MOBILE. 

"Hello,  Johnson,  how  are  you?  This  is  the 
United  States  steamer  Ossipee.  I'll  send  a  boat 
alongside  for  you.  I'm  Le  Roy;  don't  you  know 
me?" 

A  moment  later  Johnson  was  aboard  the  Ossipee, 
and  the  old  friends  were  shaking  hands  most  cordially. 

Thus  the  great  fight  at  Mobile  ended.  In  a  few 
days  the  forts  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbor  surren 
dered.  There  was  some  little  fighting  going  on  in  and 
around  the  city  of  Mobile  up  to  the  next  April,  but 
that  was  a  matter  with  which  the  army  had  to  do 
largely.  The  place  practically  fell  with  Farragufs 
great  victory,  a  victory  upon  which,  with  his  other 
work,  his  fame  rests  secure  for  all  time. 

In  this  terrific  fight  of  August  5,  18fi4,  the  Hart 
ford  was  struck  twenty  times;  the  Brooklyn,  thirty; 
the  Octorara,  seventeen;  the  Metaconiet,  eleven;  the 
Lackawanna,  five;  the  Ossipee,  four;  the  Mononga- 
hela,  five;  the  Kennebec,  two;  and  the  Galena,  seven. 
The  monitor  Manhattan  was  struck  nine  times;  the 
Winnebago,  nineteen;  and  the  Chickasaw,  three. 
The  Tennessee  was  really  damaged  very  little,  but 
fifty-three  shot  marks  were  counted  on  her  broken 
sides. 

The  loss  in  the  Northern  fleet  was:  Hartford,  25 
killed  and  28  wounded;  Brooklyn,  11  killed  and  43 
wounded;  Lackawanna,  4  killed  and  35  wounded; 
Oneida,  8  killed  and  30  wounded;  Monongahela,  6 


118 


OUR  NAVY  IN   TIME  OF  WAR. 


wounded;  Metacomet,  1  killed  and  2  wounded;  Ossi- 
pee,  1  killed  and  7  wounded;  Kichmorid,  2  wounded; 
Galena,  1  wounded;  Octorara,  1  killed  and  10 
wounded;  Kennebec,  1  killed  and  6  wounded.  Total, 
52  killed  and  170  wounded,  in  addition  to  the  93  men 
who  were  drowned  in  the  Tecumseh.  On  the  South 
ern  side  the  Tennessee  had  2  killed  and  9  wounded; 
Gaines,  2  killed  and  3  wounded;  Selma,  8  killed  and 
7  wounded;  Morgan,  1  wounded.  Total,  12  killed 
and  20  wounded.  The  North  took  280  men  prisoners. 
Thus  ended  a  bloody  day,  but  one  of  the  most 
glorious  in  naval  history  in  the  bravery  shown  on  both 
sides. 


Sinking  of  the  Stone  fleet  in  the  port  of  Charleston,  S.  C. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

FAILURES    OFF    CHARLESTON. 

FROM  the  time  the  war  began,  in  1861,  until  it 
ended,  in  1865,  the  North  tried  many  times  to  cap 
ture  Charleston,  S.  C.,  from  the  sea.  All  these 
efforts  failed,  and  it  was  not  until  General  Sherman 
with  his  army  appeared  in  the  rear  of  the  city,  in 
1865,  that  it  fell.  The  North,  early  in  the  war,  sent  a 
group  of  vessels  to  blockade  the  port  of  Charleston. 
On  December  20,  1861,  the  North  sunk  twenty 
schooners  loaded  with  stone  in  the  various  ship  chan 
nels  to  the  port  to  keep  vessels  from  going  in  or  out. 
These  twenty  schooners  were  called  the  "  stone  fleet. " 
The  barrier  had  some  effect,  but  the  tide  and  the  cur 
rents  soon  opened  new  channels,  and  the  watch  by  the 
Northern  vessels  off  the  bar  had  to  be  constant  and 
active. 

After  Admiral  Dupont  had  won  his  great  victory 
at  Port  Royal,  and  after  the  Monitor  had  shown  how 
useful  that  type  of  vessel  was,  the  North  decided  to 
build,  as  quickly  as  possible,  several  more  monitors, 

and  to  place  them  under  the  command  of  Admiral 

119 


FAILURES   OFF   CHARLESTON.  121 

Dupont,  with  the  idea  of  capturing  Charleston.  It 
was  in  the  port  of  Charleston  that  the  civil  war  actu 
ally  began,  and  the  South,  as  a  matter  of  pride  as  well 
as  of  defense,  meant  to  keep  the  Northern  soldiers 
and  sailors  out  of  Charleston  until  the  very  last,  and 
it  succeeded.  During  the  latter  part  of  1861  and 
during  all  of  1862  it  fortified  the  harbor  and  made 
it  very  strong  with  earthworks,  barriers  in  the  chan 
nels,  torpedoes,  and  mines,  in  addition  to  the  strong 
stone  forts  that  were  there  when  the  wrar  began.  The 
main  ship  channel  ran  directly  north  from  the  ocean 
into  the  harbor  and  close  to  Morris  Island  on  the  west 
of  that  entrance.  Having  passed  Morris  Island,  a 
ship  entering  the  port  would  come  in  direct  range 
of  Fort  Sumter  on  an  island  in  the  harbor,  and  also 
within  range  of  several  forts  and  earthworks  on  Sul 
livan's  Island  which  guarded  the  northern  entrance 
to  the  port.  All  along  the  shore  of  Morris  Island,  to 
the  south,  were  heavily  armed  earthworks,  and  almost 
every  place  on  Sullivan's  Island  that  could  serve  the 
purpose  was  bristling  with  cannon  behind  the  great 
heaps  of  dirt  and  sand.  A  long  line  of  torpedoes 
reached  from  Fort  Sumter  to  Sullivan's  Island  across 
the  main  channel,  and  along  the  many  inlets  from  the 
sea,  above  and  below  the  main  entrance  to  the  port, 
were  earthworks  behind  which  were  heavy  cannon. 
Altogether  no  less  than  seventy  large  guns  protected 
the  port,  in  addition  to  the  mines  and  torpedoes. 


122  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

Nor  was  this  all  the  protection  the  South  had 
made  for  the  city  and  forts.  Up  one  of  the  rivers 
near  the  city  the  South  had  built  two  more  of  the 
rams  patterned  after  the  Merrimac.  They  were  called 
the  Palmetto  State  and  the  Chicora,  and  were  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  thirty-five  feet  wide,  and 
drew  twelve  feet  of  water.  They  had  two  inches  of 
iron  over  the  twenty-two  inches  of  pine  and  oak  that 
made  up  their  sloping  sides,  and  they  could  steam 
about  seven  knots  an  hour.  The  Palmetto  State  had 
four  large  guns  and  the  Chicora  had  six. 

The  first  action  off  the  harbor  took  place  early  on 
the  morning  of  January  31,  1863,  when  the  two 
Southern  rams  stole  down  the  channel  in  a  thick  fog, 
to  try  to  destroy  some  of  the  Northern  ships  on  the 
blockade.  Several  of  the  large  war  ships  of  the  North 
had  been  sent  to  Port  Royal  for  repairs,  and  only 
three  strong  war  ships  and  seven  armed  merchantmen 
were  doing  blockade  duty.  It  was  about  4.30  A.  M. 
when  the  officer  of  the  deck  on  the  Northern  armed 
merchantman  Mercedita  saw  a  strange  vessel  coming 
straight  for  his  own  through  the  fog.  The  officer  at 
once  shouted: 

"  What  steamer  is  that?  Drop  your  anchor  or  you 
will  be  into  us." 

The  reply  startled  the  Northern  officer.  It  was 
Commodore  D.  N.  Ingraham,  in  command  of  the  Pal 
metto  State,  who  replied: 


FAILURES  OFF  CHARLESTON.  123 

"  The  Confederate  States  steamer  Palmetto 
State.'1 

No  sooner  had  the  answer  to  the  Northern  officer's 
question  been  given,  than  Ingraham  fired  a  seven-inch 
shell  into  the  Mercedita.  It  killed  one  man,  tore  open 
the  steam  drum,  exploded,  and  made  a  hole  four  feet 
square  in  the  opposite  side  of  the  boat.  The  escaping 
steam  killed  four  men  and  scalded  four  others.  The 
Mercedita  was  helpless,  and  the  captain  was  compelled 
to  surrender.  The  Palmetto  State,  however,  did  not 
take  possession  of  the  Mercedita,  and  left  the  vessel 
and  crew  lying  where  she  had  been  damaged,  while 
the  Palmetto  State  and  Chicora  went  off  in  the  fog 
for  another  victim. 

One  of  the  Northern  vessels  lying  near  the  Mer 
cedita  was  the  Keystone  State.  Her  captain  had 
heard  the  firing  on  the  Mercedita,  and  he  ordered  his 
anchor  raised,  and  had  started  to  see  what  was  the 
trouble  when  he  met  the  Palmetto  State  stealing 
along  in  the  fog.  The  two  ships  exchanged  shots, 
and  the  Keystone  State  tried  to  run  away.  She  met 
the  Chicora  and  dodged  in  another  direction,  only  to 
meet  the  Palmetto  State  once  more.  Again  these  two 
ships  exchanged  shots,  and  one  of  the  shells  from  the 
Palmetto  State  entered  the  Keystone  State  and  de 
stroyed  the  steam  pipes.  The  Keystone  State  was 
crippled  and  twenty  men  were  killed,  and  her  com 
mander  had  to  surrender.  The  Southern  rams  cruised 
10 


124:  OUR  NAVY  IX  TIME  OF   WAR. 

about  for  a  time  firing  shots,  here  and  there  in  the  fog, 
and  finally  went  back  to  Charleston,  without  taking 
with  them  the  Northern  vessels  which  they  had  cap 
tured.  The  evening  before  this  disaster  to  two  of 
the  Northern  ships  another  Northern  vessel,  the  gun 
boat  Isaac  Smith,  had  attempted  to  go  up  one  of  the 
streams  back  of  the  islands  that  guard  the  harbor  of 
Charleston.  This  stream  was  called  the  Stono  River. 
A  masked  battery  fired  upon  the  Smith,  and  a  shot 
disabled  the  vessel's  machinery,  killed  eight  men  and 
wounded  seventeen,  and  the  captain  surrendered  the 
ship. 

By  this  time  some  of  the  new  monitors  which  the 
North  had  built  had  arrived  off  Charleston.  Admiral 
Dupont  was  anxious  to  test  the  power  of  them,  and 
he  sent  one,  the  Montauk,  down  to  Ossabaw  Sound 
near  the  Savannah  River,  to  try  to  destroy  a  blockade 
runner  called  the  Nashville,  which  had  been  made 
over  into  a  war  ship,  and  which  was  lying  in  the 
Ogeechee  River  unable  to  get  out,  because  the  North 
had  sunk  ships  loaded  with  stone  in  the  channel.  The 
Nashville  was  very  close  to  Fort  McAllister,  and  on 
January  27,  1863,  the  Montauk,  under  command  of 
Captain  Worden,  who  had  charge  of  the  Monitor  in 
its  great  fight,  went  close  to  Fort  McAllister  with  his 
new  vessel  and  four  small  gunboats,  and  attacked  the 
fort.  Little  damage  was  done  on  either  side,  although 
the  Montauk  was  struck  thirteen  times.  On  February 


FAILURES  OFF  CHARLESTON.  125 

1st,  five  days  later,  the  attack  was  renewed,  and  the 
Montauk  was  struck  forty-six  times,  without  serious 
injury.  The  Northern  war  ships  continued  to  lie  off 
the  fort  until  February  28th,  when  Worden  decided 
that  he  would  destroy  the  Nashville.  He  ran  up  close 
to  the  fort,  where  lie  could  see  the  Nashville  lying  in 
the  river  twelve  hundred  yards  away  and  across  a 
marsh.  Only  the  upper  part  of  the  Nashville  could 
be  seen,  but  Worden  soon  got  the  range,  and  paying- 
no  attention  whatever  to  the  fort,  he  began  to  shoot  at 
the  Nashville.  In  fifty  minutes  one  of  the  Montauk's 
shots  pierced  the  Nashville's  magazine,  and  she  blew 
up.  Worden  retired,  his  vessel  having  been  struck 
only  five  times  by  shells  from  Fort  McAllister. 
While  going  down  the  river,  however,  he  ran  against 
a  torpedo,  and  a  hole  was  blown  in  the  bottom  of  the 
Montauk.  Worden  ran  his  vessel  on  a  mud  bank, 
tilted  her  to  one  side  by  moving  his  guns  and  weights, 
patched  up  the  bottom  of  his  boat  with  an  iron  plate 
that  he  had,  and  returned  to  his  station  as  proud  of 
his  victory  almost  as  he  was  of  the  performance  of 
the  Monitor  when  she  fought  the  Merrimac  to  a  stand 
still. 

By  March,  18G3,  all  of  the  new  monitors  and  two 
ironclads,  one  of  which  Avas  the  New  Ironsides  and 
the  other  the  TCeokuk,  had  joined  Dupont's  fleet.  The 
New  Ironsides  was  really  the  first  modern  seagoing 
battle  ship  the  United  States  ever  had.  It  was  built 


126  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

somewhat  after  the  pattern  of  the  Southern  rams  of 
the  Merrimac  type.  It  had  a  long  deck  house  with 
sloping  sides,  and  was  heavily  armored  and  armed. 
The  Keokuk  was  a  sort  of  monitor  and  battle  ship 
combined.  She  had  two  turrets  and,  although  she 
carried  thirty-three  guns,  was  lightly  armored.  She 
was  an  experiment.  Admiral  Dupont  had  received 
orders  to  attack  the  forts  and  earthworks  at  Charleston 
as  soon  as  possible.  He  did  not  want  to  attack  them, 
because  he  believed  he  would  not  be  successful,  but 
he  obeyed  orders  promptly.  He  took  with  him  seven 
monitors  and  his  two  ironclads,  and  on  April  7,  1863, 
started  up  the  main  ship  channel,  past  Morris  Island. 
It  was  the  strongest  fleet  of  its  size  that  had  ever  been 
gathered  together.  The  orders  were  that  the  vessels 
should  pay  no  attention  to  the  earthworks  on  Morris 
Island  or  on  Sullivan's  Island  on  the  northern  shore 
of  the  harbor,  but  to  attack  Fort  Surnter.  The  moni 
tor  Weehawken  was  selected  to  lead  the  fleet,  because 
there  had  been  fastened  to  its  bow  a  sort  of  bootjack 
arrangement,  called  a  torpedo  catcher.  This  torpedo 
catcher  was  an  awkward  thing.  When  the  ship  rose, 
it  fell;  when  the  ship  sank,  it  rose.  The  men  on 
board  the  Weehawken  were  more  afraid  of  it  than 
they  were  of  an  enemy's  ship.  The  fleet  started  at 
1.15  P.  M.,  but  it  was  not  until  three  o'clock  that  the 
firing  became  general.  The  Weehawken  went  up  to 
within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  the  barrier  between 


FAILURES  OFF  CHARLESTON.  127 

Fort  Sumter  and  Sullivan's  Island,  bombarding  Sum- 
ter  all  the  time.  Captain  John  Rodgers,  who  was  in 
command  of  the  Weehawken,  came  so  close  to  the 
barrier  that  he  was  afraid  he  would  strike  it,  and  he 
turned  to  go  down  the  harbor.  The  barrier  really 
amounted  to  very  little,  and  if  the  Northern  ships 
had  forced  it,  as  many  of  the  Northern  commanders 
forced  barriers  at  other  places,  it  is  very  probable  that 
Fort  Sumter  and  the  other  forts  could  have  been  de 
stroyed  from  the  rear;  but  Rodgers  lacked  the  dash 
that  some  of  the  Northern  commanders  had,  and  the 
barrier  remained  untouched.  There  was  great  con 
fusion  among  the  Northern  ships  because  of  the  tide 
and  the  currents  and  the  smoke  from  the  forts  and 
vessels.  To  avoid  a  collision  with  the  monitor  Na- 
liant,  the  Iveokuk  ran  close  to  Fort  Sumter,  where  she 
remained  for  half  an  hour.  She  was  struck  ninety 
times  in  thirty  minutes,  and  her  hull  and  turrets  were 
riddled.  Her  commander  saw  that  she  would  proba 
bly  sink,  and  he  steamed  out  of  action. 

Admiral  Dupont  was  on  the  New  Ironsides  during 
the  fight.  The  New  Ironsides  drew  so  much  water 
that  it  was  impossible  for  her  to  go  up  into  the  harbor, 
and  she  lay  in  the  main  ship  channel  off  Morris  Island, 
and  directly  opposite  Fort  Wagner,  a  strong  earthwork. 
It  was  learned  afterward  that  during  the  entire  time 
of  the  fight  the  New  Ironsides  was  anchored  directly 
over  a  mine  containing  more  than  two  thousand 


FAILURES  OFF  CHARLESTON.  129 

pounds  of  powder.  The  men  in  Fort  Wagner  tried 
many  times  to  set  oft'  the  mine,  but  failed.  The 
reason  they  failed  was  because  a  wagon  which  had 
been  driven  along  the  beach  had  broken  the  wires 
leading  to  the  mine,  and  thus  the  Xew  Ironsides 
escaped  a  terrible  fate.  After  the  fight  had  been  go 
ing  on  for  an  hour,  Admiral  Dupont  signaled  a  recall, 
intending  to  renew  the  contest  the  next  day.  The 
captain  of  the  Keokuk,  as  he  went  by  the  New  Iron 
sides,  signaled  that  his  vessel  was  scarcely  able  to 
keep  afloat.  She  did  sink  that  night  at  the  place 
where  she  came  to  anchor,  off  Morris  Island.  The 
Weeliawken  had  had  one  of  her  guns  disabled,  as  had 
also  the  Passaic  and  Patapsco.  The  Xahant's  turret 
was  jammed  and  the  shutter  for  one  of  the  guns  on 
the  Nantucket  was  clogged,  and  altogether  the  North 
ern  fleet  was  in  a  bad  condition.  The  vessels  had 
fired  about  one  hundred  and  forty  shells,  but  the 
Southern  forts  which  had  answered  the  ships  fired 
twenty-two  hundred  and  twenty.  The  Northern  ves 
sels  were  hit  severely  during  the  fight,  some  of  them 
having  as  many  as  sixty  dents  in  their  sides  and  tur 
rets.  Three  men  were  killed  and  eleven  wounded  on 
the  ships.  It  was  impossible  to  fight  again  the  next 
day.  Dupont  had  been  beaten.  In  his  report  on 
the  fight  he  said: 

"  We  have  met  with  a  sad  repulse.     I  shall  not 
turn  it  into  a  great  disaster." 


130  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OP  WAR. 

Dupont  had  learned  that  the  South  was  building 
another  ram  at  Savannah.  It  was  like  the  Merrimac, 
and  he  decided  to  destroy  it  if  possible.  This  made 
another  of  the  side  attacks  by  the  fleet  at  Charleston, 
like  that  in  which  the  Nashville  was  destroyed,  and  it 
also  resulted  successfully.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
showy  victories  of  the  navy.  The  Atlanta  had  been 
made  into  a  ram  from  a  former  Scotch  steamer  called 
the  Fingal.  The  usual  house  with  sloping  sides  was 
built  on  the  hull,  and  armor,  such  as  was  put  on  the 
other  rams,  was  bolted  to  eighteen  inches  of  wood 
backing.  The  armor  was  not  of  good  quality,  and  the 
deck  house  was  not  built  so  strongly  as  those  of  some 
of  the  other  rams.  She  had  four  fine  guns,  and  was 
commanded  by  Lieutenant  William  A.  Webb.  Ad 
miral  Dupont  had  sent  two  of  his  monitors,  the  Wee- 
hawken  and  Nahant,  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  Wil 
mington  Kiver,  below  the  Savannah  River,  through 
which  the  Atlanta  would  try  to  go  to  sea. 

On  June  IT,  1863,  the  Atlanta  put  out  to  meet 
the  Northern  ships.  Two  excursion  steamers,  loaded 
down  with  citizens  of  Savannah,  went  along  to  see  the 
fight.  The  Weehawken  and  Nahant  started  out  for 
deep  water,  and  waited  for  the  Atlanta.  When  a  mile 
and  a  half  away  the  Atlanta  opened  fire  on  the  Wee 
hawken.  The  Weehawken  did  not  reply  until  she 
was  within  three  hundred  yards  of  the  Atlanta.  The 
first  shot  from  the  Weehawken  went  through  the  At- 


132  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

lanta's  deck  house,  and  the  splinters  of  iron  and  wood 
wounded  sixteen  men.  The  second  shot  from  the 
Weehawken  struck  the  pilot  house  and  wrecked  it, 
wounding  the  two  pilots  and  the  two  helmsmen  in 
side.  The  third  shot  hit  one  of  the  shutters  to  a  port 
hole  and  partly  tore  open  the  side  of  the  deck  house. 
The  Atlanta  fired  eight  shots  during  the  fight,  and  the 
Weehawken  five.  After  the  fifth  shot  had  been  fired 
by  the  Weehawken,  Lieutenant  Webb  saw  that  the 
Atlanta  was  beaten,  and  hauled  down  his  flag,  while 
the  excursionists,  who  had  come  out  to  see  a  great 
victory,  went  home  as  fast  as  they  could,  and  very 
much  downhearted  after  a  fight  which  had  lasted  only 
fifteen  minutes. 

Dupont's  failure  at  Charleston  caused  the  Navy 
Department  to  make  a  change  of  commanders  there. 
Dupont  was  a  splendid  man,  highly  educated,  very 
earnest  and  loyal,  a  well-trained  sailor  and  fighter, 
charming  in  his  manner,  and  kind  to  his  men,  but  he 
was  unable  to  repeat  at  Charleston  the  success  he  had 
had  at  Port  Royal.  With  regret,  the  Navy  Depart 
ment  decided  to  remove  him,  and  sent  Admiral  J.  A. 
B.  Dahlgren,  the  inventor  of  a  famous  gun,  and  also 
a  fine  sailor  and  fighter,  to  take  Dupont's  place. 

Dahlgren  arrived  on  July  4,  1863,  and  on  July 
10th  he  made  an  attack  on  Fort  Wagner  on  Morris 
Island,  assisting  the  forces  of  the  Northern  army 
which  had  been  landed  there.  Dahlgren  destroyed 


FAILURES  OFF   CHARLESTON. 


133 


some  earthworks  below  the  fort,  and  then  drew  up 
opposite  the  fort,  and  for  nine  hours  shelled  it  with 
his  monitors.  The  land  forces  attacked  the  fort  also, 
but  had  to  withdraw.  On  July  llth  the  troops  again 


United  States  Monitor  towing  a  disabled   gunboat  in  a  storm 
off  (Jammings  Point  battery. 

attacked  Fort  Wagner,  with  the  help  of  the  ships,  but 
the  Southern  forces  repelled  them.  The  monitors 
were  hit  only  a  few  times  during  the  two  day's  en 
gagement,  and  the  fort  didn't  seem  to  be  damaged 
much.  On  July  18th  the  ships  and  the  troops  made 
another  land  and  water  attack  on  Fort  Wagner,  and 
again  the  troops  were  repulsed. 

It  was  not  until  August  17th  that  the  fort  was 
silenced  at  last.  Four  monitors  and  the  Xew  Iron 
sides  ran  up  to  within  four  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of 
Fort  Wagner,  and  seven  gunboats,  lying  at  a  longer 
distance,  helped  them  shell  the  fort,  while  the  troops 
stormed  it.  After  two  hours'  fighting,  Fort  Wagner 


134:  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

was  silenced  but  not  taken.  A  shot  struck  the  pilot 
house  of  the  monitor  Catskill  during  the  fight,  killing 
Commander  G.  W.  Rodgers,  one  of  the  best  men  in 
the  navy,  and  Paymaster  Woodbury,  and  wounding 
two  other  men.  During  this  fight  Admiral  Dahlgren 
ran  within  a  mile  of  Fort  Sumter. 

On  the  night  of  August  23d  the  monitors  ran  up 
close  to  Fort  Sumter  and  fired  upon  it  for  five  hours. 
The  monitors  were  hit  seventy-one  times,  and  the  leg 
of  Captain  Badger,  of  the  Weehawken,  was  broken 
by  a  flying  splinter.  On  the  night  of  September  6th 
the  Southern  forces  left  Fort  Wagner  and  Morris 
Island,  and  on  the  next  night  the  Weehawken,  in 
running  into  the  harbor,  went  aground  and  remained 
there  for  several  hours.  When  daylight  came  the 
Southern  men  saw  her  fast  in  the  mud,  and  began  to 
fire  on  her  from  the  forts  and  earthworks,  and  the 
New  Ironsides  and  the  other  monitors  ran  in  and  shot 
at  the  forts  on  Sullivan's  and  James  Islands  until  the 
Weehawken  was  floated  oft'  the  mud  by  the  rising 
tide. 

The  night  attack  on  Fort  Sumter  by  the  ships  had 
been  more  successful  than  the  Northern  men  knew. 
General  Beauregard,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  South 
ern  forces,  said  later  that  if  the  Northern  ships  had 
kept  up  this  kind  of  work  they  would  have  destroyed 
the  fort,  but  Admiral  Dahlgren  did  not  know  this, 
and  not  having  had  much  success  up  to  this  time,  lie 


FAILURES  OFF   CHARLESTON.  135 

decided  to  try  to  capture  Fort  Sumter  in  another  way. 
He  made  up  a  boating  expedition  under  charge  of 
Commander  T.  H.  Stevens,  and  sent  four  hundred 
men,  on  the  night  of  September  Sth,  to  try  to  storm 
the  place.  A  tug  towed  the  boats  to  within  eight 
hundred  yards  of  the  fort.  One  division  was  to 
land  on  the  northwest  side  of  the  fort,  and  the  others 
on  the  southeast  side.  By  a  mistake  they  all  rowed 
to  the  northwest  side.  The  Southern  forces  saw 
them  coming,  and  met  them  with  a  sharp  fire. 
Only  a  few  of  the  boats  landed  their  crews,  and  these 
men  were  captured.  The  Northern  side  lost  three 
men  killed,  and  thirteen  ofiicers  and  one  hundred  and 
two  men  were  taken  prisoners. 

That  ended  the  active  hard  fighting  off  Charles 
ton,  but  there  were  several  exciting  incidents  yet  to 
occur  in  that  harbor.  The  first  of  these  was  the  sink 
ing  of  the  monitor  Weehawken,  which  occurred  on 
December  6,  1863.  The  monitors  had  been  built  so 
that  the  sterns  were  lower  than  the  bows.  The  water 
which  leaked  into  them  always  ran  to  the  stern,  where 
it  was  pumped  out.  On  December  6th  a  heavy  load 
of  powder  and  shot  was  placed  in  the  bow  of  the 
Weehawken,  lowering  it  several  inches.  No  one 
seemed  to  notice  that  the  water  which  came  in  was 
not  running  toward  the  stern.  Several  swells  sent  a 
lot  of  water  into  the  openings  containing  the  chains  to 
the  anchors,  and  suddenly  it  was  seen  that  the  Wee- 


136  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

hawken  was  about  to  founder.  She  put  up  the  signal 
"  assistance  required/'  but  sank  within  live  minutes, 
carrying  down  four  officers  and  twenty  seamen. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  South  decided  to 
make  use  of  submarine  boats  to  destroy  the  Northern 
ships.  They  built  a  craft  called  the  David,  which  was 
fifty-four  feet  long,  and  six  feet  in  diameter,  and 
shaped  like  a  cigar.  She  was  commanded  by  Lieu- 
tenant  Glassell,  of  the  Southern  navy,  with  a  volun 
teer  crew.  She  had  a  torpedo  on  the  end  of  a  spar. 
On  the  night  of  October  5,  1863,  this  little  boat  went 
down  the  harbor  partly  submerged.  Her  top,  which 
looked  like  a  plank,  was  all  that  could  be  seen.  When 
she  came  near  the  New  Ironsides  the  watch  saw  this 
strange  object  floating  near  the  vessel,  and  sounded  an 
alarm.  By  the  time  the  crew  were  at  their  posts  a 
big  explosion  occurred  close  beside  the  Ironsides, 
throwing  up  a  great  quantity  of  water,  and  lifting  the 
ship  to  some  extent.  Neither  boat  was  damaged 
much,  and  two  of  the  crew  of  the  David  clung  to  her 
and  took  her  back  to  Charleston  in  the  confusion  that 
occurred. 

This  attack  was  so  successful  that  the  South  built 
several  boats  of  the  David  kind,  and  one  of  them, 
which  had  a  famous  career,  the  details  of  which  will 
be  told  later,  went  down  the  harbor  to  the  Housatonic 
on  February  1.7,  1864,  and  exploded  a  torpedo  be 
neath  that  ship.  Both  vessels  were  lost.  Five  of 


FAILURES  OFF  CHARLESTON.  137 

the  Housatonic's  crew  were  drowned;  the  rest  took 
refuge  in  the  rigging,  and  were  rescued  by  small 
boats. 

That  was  the  last  of  the  thrilling  naval  fighting  in 
and  around  Charleston  harbor.  The  city  did  not  sur 
render  to  the  naval  forces  of  the  North.  From  first 
to  last  it  resisted  all  attempts  to  take  it  from  the  sea. 


CHAPTEK  VIII. 

CAPTURE  OF  FORT  FISHER. 

THE  last  great  fighting  work  of  the  navy  in  the 
civil  war  was  the  capture  of  Fort  Fisher  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  North  Carolina.  The  city 
of  Wilmington  is  situated  a  few  miles  up  the  Cape 
Fear  River,  and  it  was  the  most  important  base  of 
supplies  the  Southern  forces  had.  There  were  two 
entrances  to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  it  was 
through  these  that  more  of  the  vessels  called  blockade 
runners,  which  brought  supplies  from  English  and 
other  ports,  passed  up  to  Wilmington.  The  South 
erected  on  the  strip  of  sand  on  the  northern  entrance 
to  Cape  Fear  River  probably  the  strongest  fort  or 
earthworks  that  had  ever  been  known  up  to  that  time. 
It  was  Fort  Fisher.  Late  in  1864  the  chief  army  of 
the  South  was  almost  hemmed  in  at  Richmond  by 
General  Grant.  Supplies  could  reach  Richmond  by 
railroad  from  Wilmington,  and  it  had  long  been  seen 
that  one  way  to  hasten  the  fall  of  the  South  was  to 
capture  Wilmington  and  stop  the  arrival  of  more  sup 
plies  of  food  and  powder  and  shot.  Although  the 
138 


CAPTURE  OF   FORT  FISHER.  139 

coast  had  been  blockaded  off  the  mouth  of  the  Cape 
Fear  Jiiver,  no  attack  had  been  made  upon  Fort 
Fisher  and  the  other  defenses  which  the  South  had 
built  along  that  river  to  protect  Wilmington. 

Late  in  1864  the  North  decided  that  Fort  Fisher 
must  be  taken.  All  the  other  places  of  importance 
along  the  coast  and  up  the  Mississippi  had  been  cap 
tured,  with  the  exception  of  Charleston,  and  it  was 
possible,  therefore,  to  use  nearly  all  the  large  and 
small  ships  of  war  that  at  that  time  were  in  the  navy 
in  attacking  Fort  Fisher.  The  Navy  Department 
wanted  Farragut  to  take  charge  of  the  ships  in  this 
work,  but  Farragut's  health  was  bad  at  this  time,  and 
Admiral  Porter,  who  had  done  such  good  work  on 
the  Mississippi,  was  chosen  in  his  place.  The  work  of 
taking  the  fort  was  to  be  a  navy  and  army  movement, 
and,  as  has  been  seen,  Porter  was  always  at  his  best 
when  helping  the  army  with  his  ships.  It  was  on 
December  18,  1864,  that  the  fleet,  the  strongest  that 
the  North  had  yet  formed,  sailed  from  Hampton 
Roads.  With  the  fleet  were  a  large  number  of  army 
transports  carrying  nearly  four  thousand  troops,  un 
der  the  command  of  General  B.  F.  Butler.  Alto 
gether  there  were  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  ves 
sels  in  the  expedition. 

It  was  not  until  December  23d  that  all  the  vessels 
arrived  at  the  place  of  meeting,  about  twenty-five 

miles  east  of  Fort  Fisher.    Admiral  Porter  wanted  to 
11 


140  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

bombard  the  fort  at  once.  His  plan  was  for  the  troops 
to  storm  the  fort  after  he  had  driven  the  Southern 
men  from  their  guns.  General  Butler,  however,  had 
another  plan.  He  thought  that  he  could  wreck  the 
fort  and  frighten  the  Southern  soldiers  away  by  ex 
ploding  a  great  amount  of  powder  in  a  ship  directly 
in  front  of  the  earthworks. 

Admiral  Porter  and  General  Butler  were  not 
good  friends,  but  the  admiral  yielded  to  the  gen 
eral's  plan,  and  the  experiment  was  tried.  It  was 
almost  a  laughable  affair,  but  it  showed  at  the  same 
time  the  bravery  of  some  of  the  Northern  sailors. 
Porter  took  the  old  steamer  Louisiana,  and  placed 
more  than  two  hundred  tons  of  powder  in  her.  He 
laid  wires  through  the  vessel,  and  then  called  for  vol 
unteers  to  perform  the  work  of  blowing  her  up. 
Eleven  men  were  selected  for  the  task.  The  plan  was 
to  tow  the  Louisiana  to  within  three  hundred  or  four 
hundred  yards  of  the  fort,  which  lay  close  to  the 
ocean,  and  near  which  there  was  deep  water.  So  sure 
was  General  Butler  that  the  blowing  up  of  this  vessel 
would  have  a  terrible  and  dangerous  result,  that  he 
sent  some  of  his  transports  fifty  miles  away.  Porter's 
ships  were  ordered  to  lie  twenty  miles  out  to  sea.  The 
Louisiana  was  to  be  blown  up  about  midnight.  But 
ler  expected  that  the  gases  from  the  explosion  would 
roll  in  over  the  fort  and  kill  the  men  who  were  left 
after  the  fort  itself  had  been  blown  to  pieces.  As  soon 


CAPTURE   OF  FORT   FISHER. 


141 


as  the  explosion  occurred,  the  war  ships  were  to  hurry 
to  the  fort,  and  if  by  that  time  anybody  was  alive, 
they  were  to  bombard  the  place  until  Butler's  trans 
ports  would  arrive  two  or  three  hours  later,  when  the 
fort  was  to  be  stormed  by  the  troops  which  were  to 
be  landed. 

It  was  on  the  night  of  December  23,  1864,  that 
Commander  A.  C.  Khind  and  ten  men  set  out  with 


Interior  of  Fort  Fisher. 

the  Louisiana  to  anchor  her  and  blow  her  up.  It  was 
looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most  dangerous  feats  that 
had  been  tried  in  the  war,  and  on  this  account  the 
men  who  took  charge  of  the  work  were  as  brave  as  if 
the  plan  had  been  worth  trying.  All  the  lights  on 
the  tug  and  on  the  Louisiana  were  put  out,  and  at 


142  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

11.30  P.  M.  the  two  vessels  slowly  approached  the 
fort.  Kot  a  Northern  vessel  was  in  sight  anywhere, 
and  the  men  in  the  fort  thought  the  Louisiana  was  a 
blockade  runner.  The  men  on  the  Louisiana  lit  the 
fuses  and  started  some  clockwork  machinery,  which, 
after  about  an  hour,  was  to  let  some  weights  fall  and 
explode  the  powder  in  the  various  parts  of  the  ship 
all  at  once. 

Everything  worked  well,  and  all  the  men  got  off 
the  Louisiana  safely  by  midnight  and  steamed  away 
on  the  tug  as  fast  as  they  could  go,  so  as  to  get  out 
of  reach  of  the  damage  that  would  be  done.  The  men 
on  the  fleet  twenty  miles  out  to  sea  waited  for  the 
shock,  and  some  of  them  probably  held  fast  to  the 
sides  of  their  ships  so  as  not  to  be  blown  away. 
Butler  and  his  men  were  so  far  off  that  he  felt  that 
nothing  serious  could  happen  to  them.  It  was  at 
1.40  A.  M.  that  the  men  on  the  ships  saw  a  faint  flash 
on  the  horizon,  something  like  a  gleam  of  lightning, 
and  then  a  dull  sound  rolled  across  the  water  and  that 
was  all.  A  cloud  of  powder  smoke,  which  was  an  hour 
in  passing,  drifted  over  the  fleet  after  a  time,  and  then 
all  the  vessels  started  at  full  speed  to  learn  what  had 
been  the  result  of  Butler's  scheme.  ISTot  a  man  in  the 
fort  had  been  injured  and  no  damage  had  been  done. 
The  men  in  the  fort  thought  a  boiler  on  the  ship  had 
exploded.  Porter  saw  at  once  that  the  old-fashioned 
ways  of  capturing  a  fort  would  have  to  be  tried,  and 


CAPTURE   OF   PORT   FISHER.  143 

when  Butler  came  up  and  saw  the  failure  he  did  not 
feel  very  pleasant.  In  writing  about  it  afterward, 
General  Butler  said: 

"  The  effect  that  I  expected  was  that  the  gases 
from  the  burning  powder  would  so  disturb  the  air  as 
to  render  it  impossible  for  men  to  breathe  within  two 
hundred  yards;  that  the  magazines  of  the  fort  would 
be  burst  in,  and  possibly  the  magazines  themselves  be 
exploded ;  that  by  the  enormous  missiles  that  would  be 
set  in  motion,  and  by  the  concussion  many  men  would 
be  killed.'' 

The  explosion  was  such  a  fizzle  that  the  brave 
men  who  did  the  work  never  received  any  reward  for 
it.  At  11.30  A.  M.  the  next  morning  Porter  moved  his 
vessels  close  in  to  the  fort  and  began  to  bombard  it. 
To  understand  what  a  task  this  was  a  description  of  the 
fort  is  necessary.  It  was  really  a  series  of  about  twen 
ty  forts  of  sand.  Such  a  fort  is  the  hardest  to  destroy. 
It  was  in  the  shape  of  a  capital  letter  L.  The  long 
side  of  the  fort  began  with  a  mound  of  sand  eighty 
feet  high,  in  which  there  were  two  very  strong  guns. 
This  part  of  the  fort  stretched  for  fourteen  hundred 
yards  along  the  ocean  front.  In  the  heaps  of  sand 
which  composed  this  side  of  the  fort  there  were  seven 
teen  very  large  guns.  At  the  northern  end  of  the 
ocean  side  of  the  fort  the  earthworks  made  a  turn  at 
right  angles,  and  stretched  across  the  strip  of  sand  for 
five  hundred  yards  to  the  Cape  Fear  River.  This 


144  OUR  NAVY   IN  TIME   OF  WAR. 

stretch  was  also  made  up  of  great  mounds  of  sand, 
which  were  really  separate  forts,  and  behind  these 
mounds  were  twenty-one  great  guns,  mounted  at 
regular  intervals. 

It  was  seen  that  if  the  fort  was  to  be  captured  by 
a  land  force,  the  soldiers  must  be  landed  above  the 
fort,  and  march  down  and  try  to  storm  it  on  this  short 
side.  A  great  ditch  was  dug  by  the  Southern  men  in 
front  of  the  mounds  on  this  side  of  the  fort,  and  a 
row  of  logs  with  sharpened  ends  was  planted  in  front 
of  the  ditch  from  the  ocean  across  to  the  river.  Out 
in  front  of  the  logs  a  large  number  of  torpedoes  had 
been  hidden  in  the  sand.  AVires  ran  to  these  torpe 
does  from  the  fort,  and  the  idea  was  to  blow  up 
the  torpedoes  when  the  troops  were  passing  over 
them. 

The  sand  mounds  of  the  fort  were  open  at  the  rear 
only,  and  were  of  various  shapes.  Most  of  them  had 
walls  forty  feet  liigh,  and  between  them  were  what 
were  called  "  traverses,"  or  sand  heaps  about  twenty 
feet  higher.  The  guns  in  the  fort  were  of  the  best 
'make,  and  altogether  no  such  strong  fort  had  been 
made  during  the  war. 

It  was  11.30  A.M.  on  December  24,  1804,  that 
Admiral  Porter  gave  the  signal  for  his  ironclads  and 
other  large  vessels  to  go  close  to  the  fort  and  to  begin 
the  bombardment.  Porter  raised  the  signal  to  fire 
slowly,  and  until  dark  the  firing  was  kept  up,  when 


CAPTURE  OF   FORT  FISHER.  145 

Porter  gave  the  signal  to  his  ships  to  withdraw.  It 
was  really  nothing  more  than  target  practice  on  both 
sides.  In  fact,  Admiral  Porter  called  it  that.  Little 
damage  was  done  to  the  fort,  and  the  chief  injury 
to  the  ships  was  caused  by  the  bursting  of  the  Parrott 
rifled  guns  on  five  vessels.  Altogether  sixteen  men 
were  killed  and  twenty-three  were  wounded  in  this 
way.  The  Southern  forces  had  been  increased  in  a 
hurry,  after  the  explosion  on  the  Louisiana,  and  it 
was  a  harder  task,  therefore,  to  try  to  destroy  the  fort. 
On  the  next  day  three  thousand  of  General  Butler's 
troops  were  landed  on  the  beach,  five  miles  above  the 
fort.  They  advanced  gradually,  and  the  skirmishers 
actually  went  right  up  to  the  fort  itself.  One  officer 
even  climbed  a  parapet,  seized  a  flag,  and  carried  it 
away.  Another  man  rushed  inside  one  of  the  mounds, 
knocked  a  Southern  soldier  off  a  horse,  and  brought 
the  horse  out. 

Meanwhile  General  Butler,  with  General  Weit- 
zel,  who  was  in  direct  command  of  the  troops  on  shore, 
came  down  in  a  boat  along  the  beach.  Butler  told 
Weitzel  that  he  didn't  think  they  could  take  the  fort, 
but  he  wanted  Weitzel  to  look  into  the  matter  care 
fully  and  tell  him  what  he  thought  about  it.  Weitzel 
took  the  hint,  and  he  soon  reported  to  Butler  that  he 
wras  quite  sure  they  could  not  capture  the  fort,  and 
Admiral  Porter  that  night,  having  been  bombarding 
the  fort  all  day,  was  surprised  to  get  a  letter  from 


146  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

Butler  in  which,  after  saying  that  he  did  not  think  the 
fort  could  be  captured,  Butler  said : 

"  I  shall,  therefore,  sail  for  Hampton  Roads  as 
soon  as  the  transport  fleet  can  be  got  in  order.'7 

Butler  did  sail  away,  and  Porter,  who  had  been 
doing  all  he  could  to  reduce  the  fort  when  Butler's 
troops  were  on  shore,  was  angry  over  the  result. 
Twenty  men  had  been  killed  and  sixty-three  wounded 
on  the  ships  in  the  two  days'  bombardment.  In  the 
fort  there  were  six  killed  and  fifty-two  wounded. 
Eight  of  the  guns  of  the  fort  had  been  made  useless, 
two  small  magazines  had  been  blown  up,  and  several 
little  buildings  burned.  The  attack  on  the  fort  had 
been  a  failure. 

Porter  did  not  intend  to  give  up.  He  wrote  to 
Washington,  and  the  War  Department,  through  the 
President,  ordered  General  Grant  to  send  General  A. 
H.  Terry  with  six  thousand  soldiers  to  assist  Porter. 
These  soldiers  landed  on  the  beach  above  the  fort  on 
January  13,  1865.  Porter  moved  his  splendid  fleet 
close  to  the  fort  on  the  same  day,  and  began  another 
bombardment.  In  his  firing  lines  he  had  forty-two 
ships,  of  which  six  were  ironclads,  five  being  monitors 
and  the  other  being  the  New  Ironsides.  He  moved 
his  ironclads  close  to  the  sharp  corner  in  the  fort,  and 
stretched  a  line  of  thirteen  vessels  up  the  beach  above 
them,  where  they  could  fire  upon  the  short  side  of  the 
earthworks.  Two  other  lines  of  vessels  were  stretched 


CAPTURE  OP   FORT  FISHER.  147 

along  the  long  side  of  the  fort  on  the  ocean  front. 
This  made  three  lines  of  ships  and  one  group,  the  guns 
of  which  commanded  every  part  of  the  fort.  Abom 
half  a  mile  out  to  sea  from  his  lines  along  the  long 
side  of  the  fort  and  in  four  divisions  were  stretched 
his  reserve  vessels,  most  of  them  being  small.  These 
vessels  were  used  from  time  to  time  in  helping  the 
troops  and  in  carrying  messages. 

Porter  began  the  bombardment  at  3.30  p.  M.  on 
January  13th.  It  lasted  until  nearly  six  o'clock.  It 
is  said  to  have  been  a  grand  sight.  It  continued  until 
after  darkness  set  in,  and  the  bursting  of  the  shells 
above  the  mounds  of  the  fort  were  like  flashes  of  light 
ning  darting  from  heaven  to  earth.  The  roar  of  the 
guns  was  terrible,  and  the  smoke  seemed  to  unite  with 
the  clouds  and  to  bring  the  sky  down  to  the  very 
ground.  Porter  ordered  his  vessels  to  withdraw,  but 
left  his  ironclads  in  position  through  the  night  and  at 
intervals  threw  shells  into  the  fort.  On  that  night 
General  Terry  visited  Porter  on  his  flagship,  and  they 
made  their  plans  to  storm  the  fort.  It  was  decided  to 
land  sixteen  hundred  sailors  and  four  hundred  marines 
from  the  ships,  and  these  were  to  storm  the  ocean  side 
of  the  fort  while  the  troops  marched  down  on  the  land 
side.  On  the  next  day,  January  14th,  the  ships  con 
tinued  the  bombardment  of  the  fort,  as  on  the  day  be 
fore,  and  that  night  the  sailors  and  marines  were 
landed.  The  troops  had  marched  down  to  within  two 


148  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF   WAR. 

miles  of  the  fort,  arid  had  thrown  up  barriers  of  sand 
to  protect  themselves. 

It  was  arranged  that  the  assault  should  take  place 
at  three  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  January  15th. 
The  sailors  were  in  three  divisions  and  the  marines  in 
one.  The  sailors  were  armed  with  cutlasses  and  re 
volvers  only.  The  plan  was  for  the  sailors  to  rush 
up  the  beach,  shooting  their  revolvers  and  swinging 
their  cutlasses,  while  the  marines  with  their  muskets 
were  to  shoot  down  the  men  who  might  climb  to  the 
top  of  the  mounds  to  keep  the  sailors  back.  By  some 
mistake  there  was  little  order  among  the  sailors. 
They  had  landed  in  small  parties  and  had  never  drilled 
together  on  land,  and  for  a  time  there  was  confusion 
as  to  who  should  command  them.  They  were  very 
close  to  the  fort,  while  the  army  forces  were  a  long 
distance  away.  The  sailors  had  thrown  up  some  sand 
about  them  to  protect  themselves  until  the  signal 
should  be  given  to  start  the  assault.  The  signal  agreed 
upon  was  the  blowing  of  the  whistle  of  every  vessel 
in  the  fleet. 

Exactly  at  three  o'clock  every  ship's  whistle  began 
to  blow.  They  made  a  great  shrieking  noise.  With  a 
cheer  the  sailors  and  marines  dashed  up  the  beach. 
At  once  hundreds  of  Southern  soldiers  leaped  to  the 
top  of  the  mound,  and  began  to  fire  into  the  running 
sailors  and  marines.  It  was  a  bloody  struggle.  The 
men  from  the  ships  had  nearly  half  a  mile  to  go.  The 


CAPTURE  OF  FORT  FISHER.  149 

sailors  could  do  nothing  with  their  revolvers  and  cut 
lasses  until  they  reached  the  works,  and  the  marines 
did  not  protect  them  well  with  their  muskets.  On  they 
kept,  however,  although  they  were  swept  down,  dozens 
at  a  time.  They  reached  the  wooden  palisades  and 
some  of  them  passed  through  openings  which  the  guns 
of  the  ships  had  made  and  went  almost  to  the  mounds. 
They 'were  beaten  back,  however,  and  eighty-two  were 
killed  and  two  hundred  and  sixty-nine  wounded. 
They  rallied  three  times  before  they  finally  fled. 

Nearly  every  man  that  could  be  spared  inside  the 
fort  had  been  sent  to  beat  off  the  attack  by  the  sailors 
and  marines.  Meantime  the  men  of  the  army  had 
been  marching  quietly  along  the  edge  of  the  Cape  Fear 
River,  and  partly  protected  by  its  banks.  They 
reached  the  last  mound  on  the  short  side  of  the  fort  al 
most  without  opposition.  Then  began  a  terrific  strug 
gle.  The  soldiers  climbed  up  the  first  barrier  of 
sand,  and  hand  to  hand  the  men  from  the  North 
and  South  fought  one  another.  The  captains  of 
the  various  ships  in  the  fleet  saw  the  close  fighting 
and  they  sent  their  shells  straight  at  the  Southern 
men  who  were  in  conflict  with  the  storming  soldiers 
of  the  North.  Foot  by  foot,  aided  by  the  firing  of 
the  fleet,  the  soldiers  advanced.  As  they  would  appear 
on  the  top  of  a  parapet  or  mound  the  sailors  on  the 
ships  would  give  cheer  after  cheer,  and  the  struggle 
would  be  continued  to  another  mound.  By  night- 


150  OUR  NAVY   IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

fall  all  of  the  separate  forts  on  the  short  side  of  the 
earthworks  had  been  carried,  and  the  march  of  the 
Northern  men  began  slowly  along  the  ocean  front  of 
the  fort  which  the  sailors  had  failed  to  carry.  It 
was  not  until  nearly  ten  o'clock  at  night  that  the  last 
mound  of  the  fort,  the  one  which  was  eighty  feet  high, 
and  which  stood  at  the  top  of  the  L,  was  carried. 
When  the  Southern  fire  had  stopped  entirely  hundreds 
upon  hundreds  of  rockets  were  sent  up  from  the  ships, 
and  cheer  upon  cheer  rang  across  the  water  to  the 
shore.  More  than  seven  hundred  of  the  soldiers  were 
killed  or  wounded.  It  was  a  glorious  attack  and  a 
brave  defense.  Less  than  two  thousand  men  inside 
the  fort  had  held  the  Northern  forces  at  bay  until 
that  time.  Nearly  all  the  Southern  troops  in  the  fort 
were  taken  prisoners.  To  show  how  well  they  had  de 
fended  the  place, it  maybe  said  that  during  the  first  at 
tack  on  Fort  Fisher,  when  General  Butler  failed  to  as 
sault  it,  the  vessels  of  Porter's  fleet  threw  fifteen  thou 
sand  shells  into  it.  During  the  second  attack  the  ships 
threw  about  twenty-two  thousand  shells  into  the  fort. 
There  were  several  small  forts  up  the  Cape  Fear 
River  to  Wilmington,  but  Admiral  Porter's  ships  soon 
destroyed  them,  and  in  February,  1865,  less  than  two 
months  before  the  South  gave  in  at  last,  the  city  of 
Wilmington  was  occupied  by  the  Northern  forces. 
No  more  gallant  work  was  done  during  the  entire  war 
than  the  storming  of  Fort  Fisher. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

BRAVERY   IN   THE   NAVY   IN   THE   CIVIL   WAR CUSHING^S 

DEEDS. 

IN  a  war  like  that  between  the  North  and  South, 
where  hundreds  of  thousands  of  brave  men  were  fight 
ing  on  both  sides,  scarcely  a  day  passed  without  some 
man  showing  unusual  courage.  Xo  one  could  even 
begin  to  tell  of  all  the  brave  deeds  that  were  done 
on  both  sides  during  the  war.  Men  of  the  South  and 
men  of  the  Xorth  alike  were  as  bold  and  brave  as 
was  to  be  expected  from  a  people  whose  forefathers 
won  their  liberty  in  the  great  Revolution,  beginning 
in  1776.  Both  sides  were  made  up  of  Americans. 
It  called  for  as  much  bravery,  perhaps,  to  lie  in  the 
swamps  day  after  day  as  to  storm  a  fort;  to  shovel 
coal  into  boilers  in  the  war  ships  as  to  land  on  a 
beach  and  try  to  take  a  fort;  to  go  without  food 
and  endure  the  hardships  of  heat  and  cold  as  to  face 
a  rain  of  bullets  in  the  excitement  of  battle. 

There  were  many  instances,  however,  of  bravery 
on  land  and  sea  which  drew  to  the  men  who  did  the 

deeds  great  attention,  and  made  the  men  heroes  in 

151 


152  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF    WAR. 

the  eyes  of  the  world.  Their  deeds  live  in  history 
because  they  were  unusual  and  because  the  world 
loves  to  hear  and  to  read  of  daring  for  the  sake  of 
one's  country.  The  name  that  stands  out  foremost 
for  brave  acts  in  the  navy  during  the  civil  war  is 
that  of  William  Barker  Gushing.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  no  country  at  any  time  ever  produced  a  braver 
man.  He  lived  only  thirty-one  years,  but  his  short 
life  was  crowded  with  thrilling  events.  His  bravery 
brought  him  the  rewards  of  great  fame  and  honor, 
but  he  never  seemed  to  care  as  much  for  them  as 
he  did  simply  to  do  his  duty.  What  has  been  called 
"  the  glory  of  dying  in  battle  "  evidently  appealed 
to  him  to  such  an  extent  that  he  knew  no  fear  and 
was  eager,  time  and  time  again,  to  face  what  seemed 
to  be  certain  death  for  the  sake  of  his  country.  He 
placed  his  duty  toward  his  country  above  everything 
else,  and  left  an  example  of  courage  that  makes  one 
of  the  brightest  pages  in  American  history.  Had 
he  lived  to  finish  his  career  in  the  navy,  he  would 
have  been  the  highest  ranking  officer  by  the  time 
he  reached  middle  age.  He  was  a  mere  boy  when 
he  first  showed  what  was  in  him,  and  his  glorious 
deeds  belong  to  the  whole  American  people.  Five 
times  in  his  career  he  received  the  personal  thanks 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  He  lived  through  the 
civil  war,  but  died  a  few  years  afterward  of  brain 
fever,  and  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  his  memory  the 


BRAVERY  IN  THE  NAVY  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  153 

first  modern  torpedo  boat  that  the  United  States  built 
was  named  after  him. 

Gushing  was  born  in  Wisconsin  of  a  noted  family 
on  November  24,1842.  He  entered  the  Naval  Acad 
emy  at  Annapolis  in  1857,  but  resigned  on  March 
23,  1861,  just  before  the  war  began.  He  entered 
the  navy  again  in  May,  1861,  and  on  the  very  day  he 
began  his  service  he  captured  the  first  prize  of  the 
war,  a  schooner  loaded  with  tobacco.  He  was  made  a 
lieutenant  on  July  16,  1862.  It  was  in  November 
of  that  year  that  he  performed  his  first  great  act  of 
daring.  He  was  in  command  of  the  small  steamer 
Ellis  at  the  mouth  of  New  River,  N.  C.,  which 
flows  into  the  Atlantic  about  forty  miles  below  Cape 
Lookout.  Into  the  New  Eiver,  about  twenty  miles 
from  the  ocean,  flows  the  River  Onslow,  and  a  few 
miles  up  that  river  is  a  small  town  called  Onslow 
Court  House.  There  was  a  large  amount  of  arms 
and  military  stores  at  Onslow  Court  House,  and 
Gushing  decided  to  try  to  capture  them.  He  started 
up  the  New  River  on  November  23,  1862,  and 
when  he  had  gone  five  miles  met  an  outward-bound 
steamer  loaded  with  cotton  and  turpentine.  The 
men  on  the  steamer  burned  the  vessel  and  cargo  to 
prevent  Gushing  from  capturing  the  ship.  Gushing 
finally  reached  Onslow  Court  House  at  one  o'clock 
that  afternoon.  He  captured  twenty-five  rifles,  two 
small  schooners,  and  the  mail  from  Wilmington, 


154  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

X.  C.     He  also  destroyed  a  large  salt  Avorks  at  the 
place. 

Taking  the  prize  schooners  with  him,  Gushing, 
early  the  next  morning,  started  to  return  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Kew  River.  He  had  gone  only  a  short  distance 
when  some  Southern  troops  began  to  fire  upon  him 
from  the  bank  with  two  cannon.  After  an  hour  of 
sharp  fighting,  Gushing,  with  his  guns  on  the  Ellis, 
drove  the  enemy  off  and  then  started  on  again.  The 
pilot  in  charge  of  the  Ellis  soon  ran  the  vessel  on  a 
sand  bar.  The  headway  of  the  vessel  carried  it  over 
the  bar,  and  Gushing  found  that  his  steamer  was  in  a 
sort  of  lake  with  sand  bars  all  about  him.  He  was  in 
a  dangerous  place.  He  sent  some  men  ashore  to  see 
if  they  could  capture  the  cannon  which  they  had 
silenced  a  short  time  before,  but  it  was  found  that 
the  cannon  had  been  taken  away.  His  next  move 
was  to  bring  one  of  his  captured  schooners  along 
side  the  Ellis,  and  to  load  into  it  everything  that 
could  be  moved  from  the  Ellis,  except  a  pivot  gun, 
some  powder  and  shell,  two  tons  of  coal,  and  some 
small  arms.  Still  it  was  found  that  the  Ellis  could 
not  be  moved  into  deep  water.  Gushing,  therefore, 
placed  most  of  his  men  on  one  of  the  schooners  and 
ordered  them  to  go  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
while  he  and  six  volunteers  remained  on  the  Ellis 
to  see  if  they  could  not  find  some  way  out  of  the 
trouble,  and  if  they  could  not,  to  fight  to  the  last. 


BRAVERY  IN  THE   NAVY  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  155 

These  seven  men  stayed  all  night  on  the  boat,  and 
the  next  morning  the  enemy  began  to  fire  upon  them 
with  four  cannon  from  different  places  on  the  river's 
bank.  It  was  a  losing  fight.  Cushing's  boat  was  shot 
to  pieces,  and  there  was  nothing  left  for  him  and  his 
men  to  do  but  to  get  into  a  small  boat  and  row  down 
the  river,  under  the  fire  of  the  enemy.  After  shooting 
the  large  gun  on  the  Ellis  for  the  last  time,  he  set  fire 
to  the  vessel,  leaving  her  flag  flying  at  the  mast,  and 
he  and  his  men  took  the  long  pull  of  a  mile  and  a  half, 
escaping  with  their  lives.  He  rounded  a  point  in  the 
river  just  before  some  Southern  cavalry  dashed  out 
upon  it  in  the  hope  of  cutting  him  off.  The  Ellis 
shortly  blew  up,  and  when  Gushing  got  back  to  the 
steamer  Iletzel  he  made  a  report  which  he  closed  by 
asking  that  a  court  be  appointed  to  inquire  into  the 
loss  of  his  ship,  and,  in  his  own  words,  "  to  see  if  the 
honor  of  the  flag  has  suffered  in  my  hands.'7  dishing 
was  then  only  twenty  years  old. 

Gushing  next  won  attention  by  his  acts  of  bravery 
on  and  near  the  Cape  Fear  River,  IN".  C.,  where  he 
had  been  doing  blockade  duty.  It  was  on  the  night 
of  February  28,  1804,  that  he  started  on  a  trip  up 
the  river,  which  seemed  almost  foolhardy.  A  short 
distance  from  the  coast  is  a  little  town  called  Smith- 
ville.  There  was  a  garrison  of  about  one  thousand 
soldiers  there,  under  command  of  General  ITebert. 

Cushing's  plan  was  to  capture  General  Hebert  and 
12 


156  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

kidnap  him,  and  also  take  any  small  vessels  that  he 
might  find  at  the  place.  He  took  with  him  Acting- 
Ensign  J.  E.  Jones,  Acting-Master's  Mate  William  L. 
Howarth,  and  twenty  men  in  two  small  boats.  He 
passed  by  Fort  Caswell  without  being  seen,  and 
reached  the  town  of  Smithville,  where  he  landed  in 
front  of  the  hotel  of  the  place  and  directly  opposite 
the  garrison.  He  left  most  of  his  men  in  the  boats, 
and  with  two  officers  and  a  seaman  walked  boldly  into 
General  Hebert's  office.  The  general  was  not  there, 
having  gone  to  Wilmington  on  business,  but  Gushing 
captured  an  engineer  officer  in  the  place,  and  with  his 
prisoner  went  back  to  his  boats.  The  sentries  were  so 
astonished  at  this  deed  that  they  did  not  give  the  alarm 
until  after  he  had  passed  Fort  Caswell  on  his  way 
down  the  river  and  was  safe. 

On  June  23  Gushing  did  another  act  of  daring  up 
the  Gape  Fear  River.  It  was  supposed  that  the  South 
ern  ram  Raleigh,  which  on  the  night  of  May  6,  1864, 
had  attacked  two  of  the  Northern  vessels  on  blockade 
duty,  and  then  had  gone  up  the  river,  was  about  to 
come  down  again,  and  Gushing,  with  Jones  and 
Howarth  and  fifteen  other  men,  started  up  the  stream 
to  destroy  her.  They  went  up  past  Fort  Caswell  and 
Smithville  safely,  but  a  short  distance  beyond  Smith- 
ville,  the  moon  having  come  out  from  behind  a  cloud, 
they  were  discovered  by  the  sentries.  dishing 
turned  to  go  down  the  stream,  but  as  soon  as  he 


BRAVERY  IN  THE  NAVY  IN  THE   CIVIL   WAR.  157 

got  in  the  shadow  of  the  river's  bank  he  put  about 
and  went  up  the  river  once  more.  When  within 
seven  miles  of  Wilmington  the  party  landed  and 
remained  for  that  night  and  the  next  day  in  hid 
ing  in  a  swamp.  On  the  second  night  Gushing  and 
his  men  captured  a  fishing  party.  He  made  his 
prisoners  act  as  guides,  and  he  examined  the  de 
fenses  of  Wilmington  in  the  river  three  miles  below 
the  city. 

The  next  morning  the  party  went  up  a  small  creek 
until  Gushing  found  a  road.  This  road  led  to  the 
main  road  between  Wilmington  and  Fort  Fisher. 
Gushing  left  most  of  his  men  in  his  boat  and  lay  in 
hiding  along  the  main  road  to  see  what  was  going  on 
there.  Soon  the  mail  carrier  from  Fort  Fisher  to 
Wilmington  came  along  on  horseback,  and  Gushing 
captured  him.  In  a  short  time  the  mail  carrier  from 
Wilmington  to  Fort  Fisher  came  along,  and  Gushing 
tried  to  capture  him,  pursuing  him  on  the  horse  of  the 
first  carrier.  The  second  carrier  escaped.  Cushing's 
men  by  this  time  were  very  hungry,  having  had  noth 
ing  to  eat  for  nearly  one  day.  Howarth  put  on  the 
clothes  of  the  captured  carrier  and  went  to  a  store. 
He  soon  returned  with  food. 

The  third  night  had  come  and  Gushing,  having 
cut  all  the  telegraph  wires  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
having  found  that  the  Raleigh  had  been  destroyed 
by  the  Southern  men  themselves,  turned  to  go  down 


158  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

the  river  to  his  ship.  The  moon  had  risen  just  as  he 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  and  Gush 
ing  and  his  party  were  discovered  by  the  Southern 
guard  boat  on  duty  there.  He  started  to  attack  the 
guard  boat,  when  three  other  boats  came  out  of  the 
shadow  on  one  side  of  the  river  and  five  more  from 
the  shadow  on  the  other  side.  For  the  moment  it 
seemed  as  if  Cushing's  time  had  come  at  last.  He 
made  a  quick  turn  with  his  boat,  however,  and  ran 
into  the  shadow  of  the  western  bank  of  the  river, 
and  then,  the  Southern  boats  having  lost  sight  of 
him,  he  slipped  out  to  sea  and  escaped  with  all  his 
men. 

Cushing's  most  daring  exploit  occurred  late  in 
October  of  that  same  year,  1864.  The  South  had 
built  a  ram  called  the  Albemarle,  patterned  after 
the  Merrimac,  Atlanta,  and  other  vessels  of  that  class, 
to  try  to  destroy  the  Northern  vessels  in  the  sounds 
along  the  North  Carolina  coast.  The  Albemarle  was 
built  up  the  Roanoke  River,  and  on  April  17,  1864, 
attacked  two  Northern  vessels,  the  Miami  and  South- 
field,  at  Plymouth,  N.  C.,  on  the  Roanoke.  The 
Southfield  was  sunk,  and  the  Miami  retreated  to  Albe 
marle  Sound.  On  May  5th  the  Albemarle  came 
down  the  Roanoke  River  and  had  a  fight  with  three 
small  Northern  vessels,  called  double-enders,  because 
they  were  pointed  at  the  bow  and  stern.  They  were 
the  Sassacus,  Wyalusing,  and  Mattabesett.  These 


BRAVERY  IN  THE  NAVY  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  159 

little  vessels  rammed  the  Albemarle,  captured  her 
store  vessel,  and  she  went  back  up  the  river.  The 
Sassacus  was  disabled.  The  Albemarle  came  down 
the  river  once  after  that,  but  did  no  fighting. 

Gushing  decided  that  the  Albemarle  must  be  de 
stroyed.  There  had  been  built  in  New  York  two 
small  boats  called  picket  boats.  They  were  crude  tor 
pedo  boats.  A  torpedo  was  attached  to  the  end  of  a 
long  pole  which  stuck  out  ten  or  twelve  feet  beyond 
the  bow  of  each  of  the  little  boats.  The  end  of  the 
pole  could  be  raised  or  lowered  so  as  to  place  the  tor 
pedo  at  a  given  point  above  or  below  water,  and  then 
the  torpedo  could  be  exploded  by  a  man  who  stood  in 
the  bow  of  the  little  boat  and  pulled  a  string.  One  of 
these  torpedo  boats  was  lost  while  being  taken  South, 
but  Gushing  took  the  other,  with  a  party  of  twenty- 
two  men  beside  himself,  and  started  on  the  night  of 
October  27,  1804,  up  the  Roanoke  "River  to  blow  the 
Albemarle  to  pieces.  The  Southern  forces  had  ex 
pected  such  an  attempt,  and  had  placed  a  guard  on 
the  sunken  steamer  South-field  in  the  river  with 
rockets  and  rifles,  so  as  to  alarm  the  force  at  Plymouth, 
which  was  protecting  the  Albemarle  at  that  place. 
Gushing  intended  to  surprise  the  guard  on  the  South- 
field  and  capture  them  before  they  could  give  warn 
ing  of  the  coming  of  the  party  to  the  men  at  Plym 
outh.  Before  starting  out  he  said  to  a  friend: 

"  This  means  another  stripe  or  a  coffin." 


160 


OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 


Jfe*r /Td-miral.          Conimocfore .  Qnptain.  Commander. 


.  Cam'r.          lieutenant.  Ensign 


Master- at  arms.      Qoxswain. 


Gunner.        CJti'er  yeoman. 


$ 

cfina 

X      V 


Quartermaster. 


, 
•f/ecve.  • 


Gunner*  mat*. 


Military  insignia  of  the  United  States  navy. 
(Rank  of  commodore  exists  no  longer.) 


BRAVERY   IN  THE  NAVY  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  161 

The  night  was  very  dark  and  rain  fell  in  showers. 
The  little  torpedo  boat  went  up  the  river  very  slowly, 
and  close  to  the  bank  in  the  gloom.  Little  by  little 
they  went  near  the  sunken  vessel  Southfield.  They 
got  ready  to  spring  aboard  and  fight  the  Southern  sol 
diers  there,  but  to  their  surprise  the  guard  did  not  see 
them,  although  they  passed  within  thirty  yards  of  the 
vessel.  Passing  round  a  bend  in  the  river,  they  came 
in  sight  of  the  town  and  of  the  fires  of  the  double  force 
of  sentries  who  were  on  the  bank.  The  fires  had  been 
allowed  to  go  down,  and  Gushing  and  his  men  were 
not  seen.  He  thought  that  he  would  be  able  to  reach 
the  town,  land  his  men,  rush  on  board  the  Albemarle, 
and  either  start  down  the  river  with  her  or  blow  her 
up.  Just  as  he  was-  within  a  very  short  distance  of  the 
ram  a  dog,  which  was  really  a  better  watch  than  the 
sentries,  discovered  the  party  and  began  to  bark. 
Other  dogs  joined  in,  the  sentries  were  aroused,  bells 
and  rattles  were  sounded,  wood  was  heaped  upon  the 
fires,  and  in  a  few  seconds  after  the  alarms  were 
sounded  there  was  great  noise  where  only  a  short  time 
before  there  had  been  complete  stillness.  Soldiers 
ran  to  and  fro,  and  officers  were  shouting  their  orders 
in  the  streets  of  the  town. 

Gushing  had  some  of  the  men  of  his  party  in  a 
small  boat  which  he  had  towed  up  the  river.  He  cut 
the  small  boat  loose  and  ordered  the  men  to  go  back 
and  capture  the  force  on  the  Southfield.  Standing 


162  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

erect  in  the  bow  of  his  torpedo  boat,  with  his  faithful 
Howarth  beside  him  and  with  twelve  other  men,  he 
steamed  straight  for  the  Albemarle,  having  given 
the  order  "  ahead  fast."  When  within  a  few  yards  of 
the  ram  he  saw  that  a  barrier  of  cypress  logs  had  been 
built  about  her  about  fifteen  feet  away  from  the  sides. 
He  saw  that  he  must  get  over  that  barrier  before  he 
could  place  his  torpedo  against  the  vessel.  He  ran 
one  hundred  yards  up  the  river,  made  a  sweeping  turn, 
and,  with  the  current  of  the  river  to  help  him,  came 
down  toward  the  ram  at  full  speed.  A  volley  of  buck 
shot  swept  over  the  little  boat,  tearing  the  back  of 
Cushing's  coat  and  ripping  off  the  sole  of  his  shoe. 
The  crew  of  the  Albemarle  were  running  out  their 
cannon,  and,  as  the  little  boat  came  close  to  the  bar 
rier,  Gushing  called  out  at  the  top  of  his  voice: 

"  Leave  the  rain.  We're  going  to  blow  you  up." 
The  little  boat  struck  the  barrier,  the  bow  ran  up 
and  over  the  slippery  logs,  and  the  small  cannon  on 
the  torpedo  boat  was  fired.  Instantly  Gushing  lowered 
the  torpedo  at  the  end  of  the  spar,  placed  it  close 
against  the  side  of  the  Albemarle,  and  just  as  he  was 
about  to  pull  the  string  to  explode  the  torpedo,  the 
muzzle  of  one  of  the  largest  cannon  on  the  ship  was 
aimed  straight  down  into  Ids  little  craft.  Gushing 
pulled  the  string,  but  not  a  second  too  soon.  As  the 
torpedo  exploded  the  Albemarle  was  lifted  a  little, 
and  the  blast  of  the  great  cannon  went  a  few  inches 


BRAVERY    IN  THE  NAVY  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.     163 

over  the  heads  of  Gushing  and  his  men,  instead  of  kill 
ing  them  all.  The  ram  was  Avrecked  completely. 

Gushing  called  to  every  man  of  his  party  to  save 
himself,  and,  taking  off  his  coat  and  shoes,  jumped 
into  the  river  and  swam  down  the  stream.  Half  a 
mile  below  he  met  one  of  his  party  named  Woodman, 
who  was  about  to  sink.  Gushing  struggled  to  save 
the  man's  life,  but  failed  and  was  nearly  drowned  him 
self.  He  reached  the  shore  and  hid  in  a  swamp  all  the 
next  day.  At  night  he  learned  from  a  negro  that 
the  Albemarle  had  been  sunk.  Taking  a  small 
skiff,  he  went  down  the  river  alone,  and,  half 
dead,  he  reached  the  Northern  vessels.  He  was  the 
only  man  of  the  party  to  escape.  Two  were  drowned, 
and  the  rest  were  taken  prisoners.  Gushing  again 
showed  his  bravery  in  the  attack  on  Fort  Fisher,  when 
he  led  a  party  of  sailors  up  the  beach  against  the  fort. 
He  was  made  a  commander  in  1872,  being  the  young 
est  man  holding  that  grade  in  the  navy.  He  died  in 
Washington  in  1874. 

Some  of  the  bravest  men  in  the  United  States 
navy  in  the  civil  war  were  the  pilots  in  the  river  steam 
boats  on  the  upper  Mississippi  and  its  branches.  It 
was  in  the  action  at  Fort  Henry  that  two  pilots  were 
killed,  Marshall  IT.  Ford  and  James  McBride.  In 
the  attack  on  Fort  Donclson  two  more  were  killed, 
Frank  Riley  and  William  Hinton.  Another  pilot  had 
been  killed  down  the  river  near  Fort  Donelson  a  day 


BRAVERY  IN  THE  NAVY  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  105 

before.  These  river  pilots  were  brave  because  they 
knew  it  was  almost  certain  death  to  them  to  go  into 
action.  The  cannon  of  the  Southern  forts  were  aimed 
at  the  pilot  houses  first  of  all,  in  the  hope  of  killing 
the  men  in  them,  thus  disabling  the  vessels.  Pilots 
were  wounded  in  scores  of  fights  along  the  Mississippi 
and  up  the  streams  that  flow  into  it?  especially  from 
Arkansas. 

Brave  as  these  men  were,  there  were  others  at 
various  times  during  the  war  who  showed  their  cour 
age  below  decks  when  death  seemed  at  hand,  and  there 
was  little  chance  for  escape.  One  of  these  men  was  on 
the  Southern  ram  Arkansas,  which  passed  through  Far- 
ragut's  entire  fleet  above  Yicksburg.  A  large  shot 
from  one  of  the  Northern  vessels  had  entered  the  en 
gine  room  of  the  Arkansas  and  set  the  ship  on  fire.  A 
man  named  Stevens  seized  a  hose,  ran  down  into  the 
engine  room,  and  fought  the  fire  all  by  himself,  with 
out  having  given  an  alarm.  Another  such  brave  man 
was  Ensign  George  E.  Wing,  who  commanded  the 
powder  division  on  the  Northern  vessel  Metacomet 
while  it  was  passing  Fort  Morgan  in  Farragut's  fleet 
at  the  battle  of  Mobile  Bay.  A  shell  from  the  fort 
entered  a  storeroom  and  burst  among  the  paints  and 
oil  and  turpentine.  Wing  and.  his  men  rushed  into  the 
room  with  wet  blankets  and  hammocks  to  put  out  the 
fire.  The  ship  was  doomed  if  the  fire  continued. 
Finally  Wing  called  out  to  those  above : 


166  OUR  NAVY   IN   TIME   OF   WAR. 

u  Batten  down  the  hatches  and  let  us  fight  it  out." 
These  men  in  this  small  storeroom  were  shut  in 
with  the  flames  and  smoke  all  around  them.  They 
fought  like  heroes,  and  after  a  few  minutes,  during 
which  they  were  burned  badly,  they  came  out  with 
their  clothes  scorched  and  their  faces  and  hands  black 
ened  with  smoke.  They  had  saved  the  ship. 

It  was  during  the  same  battle  in  Mobile  Bay  that 
George  Taylor,  an  armorer,  on  the  Northern  vessel 
Lackawanna,  showed  great  bravery.  A  shell  had  ex 
ploded  in  the  Lackawanna's  shellroom.  Taylor,  who 
was  wounded,  knew  that  in  a  few  seconds  the  ship 
would  be  blown  to  pieces  if  that  fire  was  not  put  out, 
and  without  any  show  of  fear  he  coolly  walked  into 
the  place  and  smothered  the  flames  with  his  hands. 
Another  hero,  who  was  as  fearless  as  Taylor,  was  First 
Assistant-Engineer  James  M.  Hobby,  of  the  small 
Northern  vessel  Sassacus,  when  the  Sassacus  was  dis 
abled  by  the  Albemarle  in  their  fight  in  1804.  The 
Sassacus  was  put  out  of  action,  and  was  drifting  with 
the  current.  One  of  her  boilers  had  been  pierced,  and 
there  was  danger  that  the  other  boilers  would  burst 
at  once.  Hobby  called  on  his  men  to  follow  him  into 
the  fireroom  and  draw  the  fires.  Quickly  the  men 
went  with  him,  but  Hobby  worked  harder  than  any  of 
them  and  saved  the  ship.  When  he  was  brought  back 
to  the  deck  he  was  blind  and  helpless.  Later  he  re 
covered  his  sight  partly. 


BRAVERY  IN  THE  NAVY  IN  THE  CIVIL   WAR.  167 

One  of  the  greatest  cases  of  heroism  shown  below 
deck  during  the  war  was  that  of  John  Davis,  a  native 
of  Finland,  who  was  in  the  Xorthern  navy.  He  was 
a  gunner's  mate  on  board  the  steamer  Valley  City. 
At  the  fight  off  Elizabeth  City,  X.  C.,  in  1862,  one 
of  the  shells  from  a  Southern  vessel  entered  the  maga 
zine  of  the  Valley  City  and  exploded,  setting  fire  to 
some  woodwork.  There  was  an  open  barrel  of  gun 
powder  standing  near  the  fire.  Davis  had  been  serv 
ing  out  the  powder  from  the  barrel,  and  knew  that  if 
a  spark  reached  it  the  ship  would  be  blown  to  bits. 
He  at  once  sat  down  in  the  mouth  of  the  barrel,  and 
remained  there  until  the  fire  was  put  out.  For  this 
brave  act  Davis  was  rewarded  by  being  promoted  to 
the  place  of  acting  gunner,  and  by  receiving  the  first 
medal  of  honor  ever  given  by  Congress  to  enlisted 
men  in  the  navy  for  bravery.  Some  citizens  of  Xew 
York  raised  a  purse  of  more  than  one  thousand  dollars 
and  gave  it  to  him.  Although  David  Xaylor,  a  pow 
der  boy  of  one  of  the  large  guns  on  the  Oneida  in 
Farragut's  fleet  at  Mobile,  did  not  have  a  chance  to  sit 
down  in  a  barrel  of  powder  and  save  his  ship,  like 
Davis,  he  showed  that  he  was  made  of  the  same  kind 
of  stuff.  He  was  running  along  the  deck  of  the 
Oneida  when  a  shell  from  Fort  Morgan  knocked  his 
powder  box  out  of  his  hands  and  sent  it  overboard. 
Xaylor  jumped  overboard  at  once  after  his  box,  soon 
recovered  it,  clambered  up  the  ship,  and  went  running 


168  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

about  his  work  again  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  If 
he  did  not  save  his  ship,  he  saved  at  least  something 
that  was  very  necessary  to  one  of  the  big  guns  of  the 
vessel. 

Sometimes  it  is  very  hard  to  make  men  who  have 
been  wounded  leave  their  posts  during  a  fight.  One 
of  these  cases  occurred  on  the  Brooklyn,  in  Farragut's 
fleet,  while  passing  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip. 
Quartermaster  James  Buck  was  wounded  badly  while 
standing  at  the  wheel  of  the  ship.  He  refused  to  take 
notice  of  his  wound  and  for  seven  hours  stood  at  his 
post  without  relief.  One  of  the  officers  noticed  that 
he  was  pale  and  found  that  he  had  been  wounded. 
Buck  even  then  refused  to  leave  his  place  until  com 
manded  to  do  so  by  the  officer.  Early  the  next  morn 
ing  while  no  one  was  looking  he  stole  to  his  station 
on  the  ship  and  steered  the  vessel  from  daylight  until 
1.30  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Captain  Craven  at 
that  time  found  what  he  was  doing  and  sent  him  back 
under  the  surgeon's  care. 

Devotion  to  duty  was  seen  in  the  cases  of  many 
brave  men  found  dead  at  their  posts.  One  of  these 
men  was  Chief-Engineer  John  Faron,  of  the  monitor 
Tecumseh,  which  was  sunk  by  torpedoes  at  the  battle 
of  Mobile  Bay.  Faron  had  been  very  sick,  but  in 
sisted  on  leaving  his  bed  to  take  his  place  in  the  engine 
room  of  his  vessel.  The  night  before  the  fight  began 
he  had  received  a  letter  from  his  wife.  When  the 


BRAVERY  IN  THE  NAVY  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  169 

divers  found  his  body  he  stood  with  one  hand  upon  a 
piece  of  machinery  and  in  the  other  he  held  the  letter 
from  his  wife,  which  he  seemed  to  have  been  reading 
as  he  was  drowned.  He  made  no  attempt  to  stir  from 
his  post  when  death  came.  Of  course  the  most  noted 
case  of  courage  and  of  absence  of  fear  on  that  ship 
when  she  sank  was  that  of  Captain  Craven,  who  sent 
the  pilot  up  the  ladder  ahead  of  himself  and  lost  his 
own  life. 

There  were  many  cases  where  men  were  exposed 
to  almost  certain  death  and  yet  went  about  their  work 
as  if  it  were  nothing  unusual.  One  of  these  men  was 
Thomas  Hollins,  who  stood  out  on  the  deck  of  the 
Brooklyn,  casting  the  lead  as  the  ship  went  by  Fort 
St.  Philip.  Shot  and  shell  raged  all  about  him,  but 
every  few  minutes  his  voice  was  heard  shouting  out 
the  depth  of  water.  When  opposite  the  fort  the 
Brooklyn  was  so  close  to  the  cannon  of  the  enemy  that 
the  faces  of  the  men  on  the  Brooklyn  were  almost 
scorched  by  the  blasts  from  the  fort.  ITollins  stood 
at  his  post  without  flinching,  and  at  the  very  worst 
part  of  the  fight  called  out  that  the  ship  had  thirteen 
feet  of  water  to  spare.  Another  man  who  did  not 
flinch  when  death  seemed  certain  was  Ensign  Henry 
C.  Xeilds  at  the  battle  of  Mobile  Bay.  When  the 
Tecumseh  went  down  he  manned  a  small  boat  and  put 
out  in  the  rain  of  shot  and  shell  to  save  as  many 
drowning  men  as  he  could.  He  forgot  in  his  hurry 


170  OUR  NAVY   IN  TIME   OF  WAR. 

to  hoist  a  small  flag  on  his  boat,  and  was  in  danger 
of  being  shot  to  pieces  by  the  gunners  of  the  Northern 
fleet  as  well  as  by  those  of  the  Southern  fort.  Some 
one  called  to  him  to  raise  his  flag.  He  stood  up  in  his 
boat,  fixed  the  flag,  and  then  sat  down  as  the  bullets 
were  flying  all  about  him.  It  was  a  gallant  act  and 
General  Page,  the  commander  of  the  Southern  fort, 
who  saw  the  deed,  said  to  his  men: 

"Don't  fire  on  that  boat;  she  is  saving  drowning 
men." 

One  of  the  large  guns  of  the  ram  Tennessee  was 
aimed  at  the  little  boat  at  the  time,  but  when  the 
gunners  saw  young  Xeilds  raise  the  flag,  they  were  so 
pleased  with  his  bravery  that  they  raised  the  muzzle  of 
the  gun  and  fired  over  him  instead  of  at  him.  It  was 
during  this  same  fight  at  Mobile  Bay  that  Farragut, 
when  he  had  decided  to  finish  up  the  ram  Tennessee, 
asked  Fleet-Surgeon  Palmer  to  go  in  a  small  boat  to 
all  the  monitors  and  tell  them  to  attack  the  Tennessee. 
Bullets  and  shells  were  flying  in  every  direction,  but 
Palmer  did  as  he  was  ordered  and  escaped  with  his 
life.  Another  man  who  showed  unusual  absence  of 
fear  during  this  Mobile  fight  was  Commander  Thomas 
H.  Stevens,  of  the  monitor  Winnebago.  He  remained 
exposed  on  the  deck  of  his  ship,  walking  from  one 
turret  to  the  other  during  the  entire  contest.  At  one 
time  when  the  fire  was  very  hot  he  was  cheered  by 
the  crew  of  another  ship.  He  went  to  the  side  of  his 


BRAVERY  IN  THE  NAVY  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

vessel,  took  off  his  hat  and  bowed,  and  then  went  about 
his  work.  A  case  of  bravery  that  won  attention  was 
that  of  the  secretary  to  Admiral  Farragut,  Mr.  Ga- 
baudan.  In  April,  1863,  Farragut  had  just  passed 
Port  Hudson  after  a  terrible  fight.  Only  two  of  his 
vessels  got  by  the  earthworks  on  the  river.  Farragut 
wanted  to  send  a  message  to  some  of  his  vessels  below 
Port  Hudson,  and  Mr.  Gabaudan  got  into  a  small 
skiff,  covered  the  boat  with  twigs,  so  as  to  make  it 
look  like  a  floating  log,  lay  down  inside  the  little  craft, 
and  drifted  past  the  batteries  in  safety. 

Gunner  William  W.  Carter  showed  great  bravery 
in  the  harbor  of  Galveston,  Texas,  on  Xovember  7, 
1861.  Lieutenant  James  E.  Jouett  had  taken  forty 
men  in  two  boats,  and  had  stolen  into  the  harbor  to 
destroy  some  Southern  vessels  there.  His  boats  were 
discovered  and  the  order  was  given  to  run  away,  but 
Carter,  who  was  in  one  of  the  boats,  made  a  dash  at  a 
Southern  vessel  called  the  Royal  Yacht.  The  boat 
touched  the  vessel  and  he  leaped  aboard.  Just  then 
the  small  boat  drifted  away  and  there  he  was  alone, 
fighting  with  sword  and  pistol  against  the  entire 
Southern  crew,  until  Jouett  came  to  his  help,  and 
with  his  own  sword  cut  his  way  to  Carter's  side,  after 
Carter  had  been  wounded. 

Mention  might  be  made  at  great  length  of  scores  of 
these  cases  of  bravery,  but  after  all  they  tell  only  one 

story,  and  that  is  true  love  of  country.     Thousands 
ia 


172  OUB  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

of  men  who  had  no  chance  to  play  the  part  of  heroes 
would  have  shown  themselves  just  as  courageous  as 
those  who  did  win  attention.  The  same  credit  is  due 
to  the  men  who  stood  beside  their  guns  not  knowing 
whether  they  would  be  killed  as  to  those  who  offered 
to  do  and  who  did  do  heroic  deeds  that  were  to  become 
known  widely. 


CHAPTER  X. 

QUEER    BOATS    USED    IN    THE    CIVIL    WAR. 

THE  war  between  the  North  and  South  caused 
many,  queer  boats,  such  as  had  never  before  been  seen 
in  warfare,  to  be  built  and  used  before  the  four  years' 
strife  ended.  The  South  had  no  navy  tp  begin  with, 
and  could  secure  very  little  iron  with  which  to  build 
one.  The  North  had  had  a  navy,  but  its  use  chiefly 
was  for  fighting  on  the  ocean,  and  not  on  rivers  and 
shallow  bays  and  sounds.  The  South  built  some  iron 
clads  like  the  Merrimac,  and  the  North  had  to  build 
monitors  to  overmatch  them.  Both  of  these  types  of 
ships  were  new.  The  South  also  made  use  of  some 
small  vessels,  not  much  larger  than  tugboats,  but  they 
were  of  little  account  in  the  fighting.  In  her  naval 
warfare  the  South  depended  chiefly  upon  the  many 
rams,  like  the  Merrimac,  that  were  built  and  at  last 
lost,  and  also  upon  another  queer  kind  of  craft,  such  as 
had  never  before  been  used  in  war,  called  "  Davids." 

The  North's  queer  boats,  in  addition  to  the  monitors, 

173 


QUEER  BOATS  USED  IN  THE   CIVIL  WAR.     175 

were  known  as  "  double-enders "  and  "  tinclads." 
The  double-enders  and  tinclads  were  used  in  the 
rivers  and  shallow  waters,  in  which  the  ships  of  the 
North  were  compelled  to  fight  so  much. 

Of  all  the  queer  boats  that  were  used  on  both  sides 
during  the  war  the  Davids  were  the  queerest.  They 
were  really  submarine  boats.  The  idea  was  an  old  one, 
as  old  as  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  but  no  one  had 
ever  tried  them  with  success  in  war.  The  first  one  of 
these  boats  used  in  the  civil  war  was  built  at  Charles 
ton,  by  a  man  named  Theodore  D.  Stoney.  She  was 
called  David  because  she  was  supposed  to  be  able  to 
destroy  a  large  war  ship,  as  David  in  the  Bible  killed 
the  giant  Goliath.  This  boat  was  used  first  on  October 
5,  1863,  when  an  attempt  was  made,  as  has  been  told 
already,  to  blow  up  the  North's  great  ironclad  and  first 
modern  battle  ship,  the  New  Ironsides.  The  David 
was  fifty-four  feet  long,  and  shaped  like  a  cigar. 
Steam  was  used  in  her,  and  when  she  was  ready  to  fight 
only  the  funnel  and  a  little  sighting  tower  appeared 
above  the  water.  A  torpedo  on  a  spar  was  attached  to 
the  boat,  and  when  the  boat  came  near  an  enemy's 
ship  the  plan  was  to  push  this  torpedo  against  the  other 
ship  and  explode  it.  In  the  attack  on  the  New  Iron 
sides  the  torpedo  seemed  to  have  been  exploded  be 
fore  it  was  placed  against  the  side  of  the  Northern 
vessel. 

The  David  was  under  command  of  a  man  named 


176  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

W.  T.  Glassell.  He  had  three  men  with  him.  A 
little  after  nine  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  October  5, 
1863,  several  officers  on  the  New  Ironsides  saw  what 
they  thought  at  first  was  a  long  plank  floating  near 
their  ship.  The  object  moved  straight  toward  the 
ship,  and  the  Northern  officers  knew  that  some  kind  of 
trouble  was  in  store  for  them.  They  called  out,  and 
the  reply  to  their  hail  was  a  rifle  shot,  which  wounded 
one  of  the  Northern  officers.  A  moment  later  there 
was  a  great  explosion  under  the  water  close  beside  the 
New  Ironsides.  The  ship  was  lifted  partly  from  the 
water  and  was  shaken  severely.  One  man  on  board 
had  his  leg  broken.  The  strange  boat  that  looked  like 
a  plank  disappeared;  her  crew  of  four  men  had 
jumped  overboard,  and  their  boat  floated  away  in 
the  darkness.  Glassell  and  another  man  swam  to 
Northern  vessels  and  were  taken  prisoners;  the  two 
remaining  men  swam  back  to  the  David,  climbed  into 
her,  and  in  the  night  took  the  boat  back  to  Charleston. 
That  boat  was  never  used  again,  and  when  the  war  was 
over  was  found,  with  eight  others  like  her,  in  one  of 
the  small  rivers  near  Charleston. 

The  success  of  the  first  David  led  the  Southern 
naval  men  to  build  another  on  the  same  general  plan, 
but  not  so  long,  and  able  to  contain  a  larger  crew. 
This  boat  was  only  thirty-five  feet  long,  but  the  crew 
consisted  of  nine  men.  Instead  of  using  steam  to  make 
the  boat  go,  eight  of  the  crew  worked  the  machinery 


QUEER  BOATS  USED  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.     177 

by  hand ;  the  other  man  steered  the  boat  and  exploded 
the  torpedo. 

This  boat  was  built  in  Mobile,  and  was  brought 
overland  to  Charleston.  She  could  be  sunk  to  any 
depth,  and  could  be  made  to  go  under  water  in  any 
direction.  Her  speed  was  only  about  four  knots  an 
hour.  The  plan  was  to  have  the  boat  pass  under  an 
enemy's  vessel,  dragging  a  floating  torpedo  which  was 
to  explode  when  the  torpedo  struck  the  side  of  the 
enemy's  ship.  She  was  tried  on  the  Northern  vessel 
Housatonic  on  February  16,  1864,  off  Charleston  har 
bor.  She  sank  the  Housatonic,  and  all  the  men  on  the 
David  were  lost.  Before  that  time,  however,  the 
David  had  had  a  career  in  which  death  played  the 
chief  part.  Five  times  were  most  of  the  crew 
drowned.  On  the  trial  trip  of  the  boat  in  Charleston 
harbor  Lieutenant  Payne  took  the  vessel  out  with 
eight  men.  The  wash  of  a  passing  steamer  swamped 
the  boat,  and  all  but  Payne  were  drowned.  The  boat 
was  raised  and  taken  to  a  wharf  at  Fort  Sumter,  where 
a  second  trial  was  held.  The  men  did  not  know  how 
to  manage  the  vessel  very  well,  and  she  sank,  drown 
ing  six  of  the  crew.  Lieutenant  Payne  escaped 
again.  The  boat  was  raised  again,  and  was  taken 
up  the  Stono  River,  near  Charleston,  where  a  man 
named  Hundley,  who  was  one  of  her  builders,  took 
charge  of  her.  With  a  crew  of  eight  men  he  made 
several  successful  dives,  but  finally  the  vessel  poked 


178  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

her  nose  into  the  mud  and  could  not  be  made  to 
come  to  the  surface.  There  was  no  reserve  of  air  in 
the  boat,  and  every  man  inside  was  suffocated.  Again 
the  David  was  raised,  and  again  brave  men  offered  to 
run  the  vessel.  Many  attempts  were  made  to  work  the 
boat  and  they  proved  successful.  Finally,  while  pass 
ing  under  a  ship  called  the  Indian  Chief,  a  cable 
fouled  the  David,  and  once  more  all  the  men  inside 
were  drowned. 

Again  the  David  was  raised,  and  Lieutenant 
George  E.  Dixon  asked  permission  to  use  her  against 
the  Housatonic.  He  had  no  trouble  in  getting  a  crew. 
In  time  of  war  brave  men  can  always  be  found  to  face 
certain  death.  Permission  was  given  to  Dixon  and 
his  volunteers  to  try  to  sink  the  Housatonic,  if  they 
would  not  work  the  David  under  water,  but  would 
move  along  the  surface.  It  was  just  before  nine 
o'clock  on  the  evening  of  February  17,  1864,  when 
the  David  was  discovered  within  one  hundred  yards  of 
the  Housatonic.  She  looked  like  a  plank  in  the  water, 
but  the  Northern  officers  had  had  experience  with  such 
a  plank  in  the  case  of  the  New  Ironsides,  and  an  alarm 
was  rung  throughout  the  ship.  The  anchor  was 
slipped  and  the  Housatonic  made  to  back,  but  before 
she  went  very  far  a  great  explosion  occurred,  and  a 
large  hole  was  made  in  the  side  of  the  vessel  beneath 
the  water. 

There  was  great  confusion  at  once  when  it  was  seen 


QUEER  BOATS  USED  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.     179 

that  the  Housatonic  was  sinking.  In  four  minutes 
the  splendid  sloop  of  war  went  down,  arid  five  of  the 
crew  and  two  officers  were  drowned.  The  others  on 
the  boat  ran  up  the  rigging  and  were  rescued  by 
boats  from  Northern  vessels  that  were  near.  The 
David  was  not  seen  again,  and  it  is  said  that  two  years 
afterward  she  was  found  about  four  hundred  yards 
from  the  place  where  the  Housatonic  sank.  The 
men  who  died  in  the  David  from  the  time  her 
career  began  until  it  ended  were  as  brave  as  any  the 
war  produced.  They  had  the  bravery  of  true  Amer 
icans. 

Although  everybody  was  lost  on  the  second  David, 
it  was  not  long  before  another  attempt  was  made  to 
destroy  another  Northern  vessel  by  one  of  these  boats. 
It  was  about  one  o'clock  of  the  morning  of  March  6, 
1864,  that  the  lookout  on  the  steamer  Memphis,  which 
was  in  the  North  Edisto  River,  near  Charleston,  saw 
a  David  approaching  the  vessel.  An  alarm  was 
sounded  at  once,  and  all  the  crew  hurried  to  their 
places.  The  David  was  so  near  the  Memphis  that  the 
guns  of  the  vessel  could  not  be  fired  at  her.  Every  man 
who  could  seize  a  rifle,  revolver,  or  pistol,  shot  at  the 
little  craft,  which  stopped  for  a  minute.  Then  the 
David  started  ahead  again,  but  it  was  seen  that  she 
had  broken  down  in  some  way  and  she  drifted  away 
from  the  Memphis,  which  after  a  time  fired  a  cannon 
shot  at  her.  She  disappeared  in  the  darkness,  and,  al- 


180  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

though  an  armed  boat  was  sent  out  to  try  to  capture 
her,  she  could  not  be  found. 

About  a  month  later,  on  April  9,  1864,  an  attempt 
was  made  by  one  of  these  little  boats  to  blow  up  the 
steam  frigate  Minnesota,  then  lying  off  Newport 
News,  at  the  mouth  of  the  James  River.  There  was  a 
large  fleet  there.  The  captains  of  the  Northern  ves 
sels,  by  this  time,  were  on  the  watch  for  Davids,  and 
kept  small  boats  moving  about  the  fleet  constantly. 
The  watch  on  the  Minnesota  at  1.45  A.  M.  saw  a 
small  boat  adrift,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards 
away.  The  tugboat  Poppy  was  protecting  the  Min 
nesota  at  the  time,  but  was  not  on  the  same  side  of 
that  vessel  as  the  small  torpedo  boat.  This  torpedo 
boat  was  really  not  a  David,  because  it  could  not  go 
under  the  water;  it  was  a  launch,  which  carried  a  tor 
pedo  on  a  spar.  The  officer  of  the  deck  on  the  Min 
nesota  called  to  the  little  boat  and  asked  what  vessel 
she  was.  The  reply  came  back  that  she  was  the 
Roanoke.  The  officer  warned  the  little  boat  not  to 
come  near,  and  trained  a  cannon  upon  her.  Some  of 
the  sentries  fired  at  her  also.  Before  the  cannon  could 
be  fired  a  torpedo  was  exploded  against  the  Minnesota, 
doing  great  damage  to  the  ship,  but  not  sinking  her. 
Fifty-three  pounds  of  powder  were  exploded  against 
the  vessel. 

On  April  19th  of  the  same  year  an  attempt  was 
made  off  Charleston  harbor  to  destroy  the  steam  frig- 


QUEER  BOATS  USED  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.     181 

ate  Wabash  by  a  David.  The  Northern  vessels  were 
keeping  such  a  good  lookout  by  this  time  for  these 
boats  that  the  David  was  seen  before  she  was  very 
close.  A  furious  alarm  was  sounded  on  the  Wabash 
at  once,  the  anchor  was  slipped,  and  the  frigate,  firing 
her  broadside'  of  guns  and  as  many  rifles  as  her  crew 
could  seize,  ran  off  in  the  darkness  at  full  speed.  Here 
was  a  big  vessel  with  a  crew  of  several  hundred  men 
put  to  flight  out  on  the  ocean  by  a  boat  scarcely  larger 
than  a  good-sized  whaleboat,  with  only  four  men  in 
her,  and  having  for  a  weapon  only  a  few  pounds  of 
powder  on  the  end  of  a  stick.  These  Davids,  how 
ever,  led  to  the  building  of  modern  submarine  boats, 
which  at  the  present  day  seem  almost  perfected. 

The  boats  that  the  South  depended  most  upon  in 
fighting  the  ships  of  the  Xorth  were  the  rams  which 
were  built  after  the  Merrimac  was  blown  up,  and 
which  were  made  in  general  after  the  plan  of  that 
vessel.  Next  to  the  Merrimac,  the  Tennessee  was 
the  most  famous  of  these,  and,  as  has  been  told,  did 
splendid  fighting  at  the  battle  of  Mobile  Bay.  The 
Tennessee  fought  the  entire  Northern  fleet  before  she 
was  beaten  and  captured.  Another  famous  vessel  of 
this  class  was  the  Albemarle,  which,  as  was  told  in  the 
chapter  before  this,  was  blown  up  and  destroyed  by 
Gushing  on  the  Roanoke  "River.  The  ram  Arkansas 
was  another  of  these  vessels  which  fought  almost  an 
entire  Northern  fleet.  She  was  the  one  that  was  built 


Types  of  United  States  vessels  used  during:  the  civil  war. 
Third  class.  Sornnd  class.  First  class. 


QUEER  BOATS   USED   IN  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

at  Yazoo,  Miss.,  and  which  came  down  the  Yazoo 
River  on  July  15,  1862,  putting  three  Xorthern  gun 
boats  to  flight.  She  then  passed  through  Farragut's 
fleet,  which  was  at  anchor  above  Vicksburg,  doing 
great  damage,  and  anchored  under  the  forts  at  Vicks 
burg.  Farragut  tried  to  destroy  her  two  days  later 
as  he  passed  down  the  river,  but  he  did  not  succeed. 
It  was  on  July  22d  of  that  year  that  Commodore 
W.  D.  Porter  decided  to  destroy  the  Arkansas.  With 
four  vessels  he  ran  by  the  forts  at  Vicksburg  and  at 
tacked  the  Arkansas.  Porter  had  command  of  the  Es 
sex,  and  tried  to  run  down  the  Arkansas.  He  saw 
that  his  own  ship  would  probably  be  sunk  and  steered 
off,  firing  three  solid  nine-inch  shot  at  the  Arkansas, 
which  was  only  fifty  yards  away.  The  shots  killed 
eight  men  and  wounded  six  others  out  of  the  forty- 
eight  on  the  Arkansas.  The  Essex  ran  aground, 
but  soon  got  out  of  the  mud  and  went  down  the 
river.  The  Northern  ram  Queen  of  the  West  struck 
the  Arkansas  and  injured  her,  but  the  Queen  of  the 
West  was  damaged  more  than  the  Arkansas,  and 
Colonel  Alfred  E.  Ellct  was  glad  to  escape  up  the 
river  with  his  boat.  The  Arkansas  was  still  in  fight 
ing  condition.  On  August  3,  1862,  she  went  down 
the  Mississippi  to  attack  the  Northern  fort  at  Baton 
Rouge.  Her  machinery  broke  down  and  she  ran 
aground.  When  the  Southern  men  on  board  saw  the 
Essex,  which  Commodore  Porter  commanded,  coming 


184  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

near  the  Arkansas,  they  blew  her  up,  and  that  was  the 
end  of  that  ram. 

Another  famous  ram  on  the  Mississippi  was  the 
Manassas.  She  was  the  vessel  which  caused  so  much 
trouble  to  Farragut's  fleet  as  it  was  passing  the  forts 
below  New  Orleans.  The  Brooklyn  had  a  fierce  fight 
with  the  Manassas,  and  after  the  Brooklyn  had  passed 
up  the  stream  the  Manassas  tried  to  follow  the  North 
ern  fleet  and  sink  some  of  them.  The  Captain  of  the 
Northern  vessel  Mississippi  saw  her  and  turned  to 
fight  her.  The  Manassas  started  to  run  away,  and  be 
came  fast  in  the  mud.  Her  crew  saw  there  was 
no  chance  for  them,  and  they  leaped  into  the  water 
and  swam  ashore.  The  Mississippi  fired  two  broad 
sides  into  her  and  blew  her  loose  from  the  mud. 
She  floated  down  the  river  in  flames,  and  a  short 
distance  below  the  forts  exploded  and  was  destroyed. 
She  was  the  vessel  that  a  few  months  before  had  put 
a  Northern  squadron  to  flight  at  the  mouths  of  the 
Mississippi. 

Another  ram  that  caused  the  fleet  under  Farra- 
gut  some  alarm  at  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  was 
the  Louisiana.  She  was  the  most  heavily  armed 
of  all  the  Southern  rams.  She  was  not  quite  fin 
ished  when  Farragut  went  up  the  river.  Her  en 
gines  were  never  used,  but  her  guns  were  in  good 
shape,  and  she  was  towed  to  a  place  near  the 
forts  below  New  Orleans  where  she  could  fight  the 


QUE::II  BOATS  USED  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.    ig5 

Northern  ships  as  they  passed  up.  She  did  good 
Work  with  her  guns.  The  two  forts  on  the  river  were 
surrendered  on  April  28,  1862.  The  South  meant 
that  the  Louisiana  should  not  fall  into  Northern 
hands,  and  while  plans  were  being  made  for  the  sur 
render  the  Louisiana  was  set  on  fire  at  the  place 
where  she  was  moored.  The  fire  soon  burned  the 
ropes  that  held  her  fast,  and  she  drifted  down  the  river 
in  flames.  She  was  fast  approaching  some  Northern 
ships,  to  which  she  would  probably  have  set  fire,  when 
she  blew  up.  She  was  opposite  Fort  St.  Philip  at  the 
time,  and  her  guns,  which  had  been  left  loaded,  were 
set  off,  killing  a  Southern  soldier  in  the  fort  and  near 
ly  killing  Captain  Mclntosh,  her  former  commander, 
who  was  dying  at  the  time  of  a  mortal  wound. 

When  Farragut  reached  New  Orleans  above  the 
forts  he  found  many  vessels  there  which  he  destroyed. 
Among  them  was  the  ram  Mississippi,  which  the 
Southern  men  had  said  would  be  "  the  greatest  vessel 
in  the  world."  She  was  two  hundred  and  seventy  feet 
long,  fifty-eight  feet  wide,  could  carry  sixteen  guns, 
and  was  planned  to  go  at  the  rate  of  eleven  knots  an 
hour.  She  cost  two  million  dollars.  She  had  been 
launched  only  six  days  when  Farragut  came  up  the 
river.  Had  he  delayed  his  attack  on  the  two  forts 
below  the  city  for  a  few  weeks,  the  Mississippi  would 
probably  have  done  great  damage  to  his  fleet.  He 
arrived  at  New  Orleans  just  at  the  right  time  to  catch 


186  OUR  NAVY  IN   TIME  OF   WAR. 

the  rain.  In  tlie  great  confusion  the  Southern  naval 
men  forgot  to  tow  her  up  the  river  into  the  Yazoo 
Valley  where  the  Arkansas  was  finished,  and  where 
the  Mississippi  might  have  been  completed  for  future 
work  against  the  Northern  ships. 

Another  ram  on  the  Mississippi  that  caused  the 
Northern  vessels  serious  trouble  was  the  Tennessee, 
which  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Memphis.  She  was  a 
sister  ship  to  the  Arkansas,  and  both  fought  on  the 
Southern  side  in  that  battle.  Both  were  nearly  cap 
tured  at  the  time,  but  the  Arkansas  escaped  and  went 
up  the  Yazoo  River,  from  which  she  came  down,  as 
has  been  told,  and  passed  through  Farragut's  fleet. 
The  Tennessee,  to  avoid  capture  at  the  battle  of  Mem 
phis,  was  burned.  After  1863  the  Northern  ships  had 
no  more  trouble  from  these  rams  on  the  Mississippi. 

Along  the  Atlantic  coast  the  Northern  vessels  still 
had  to  meet  these  rams.  The  attack  of  the  Chicora 
and  Palmetto  State,  which  were  built  after  the  plan 
of  the  Merrimac,  on  the  vessels  of  the  Northern  fleet 
off  Charleston  in  the  fog  has  already  been  told.  There 
were  two  other  of  these  rams  at  Charleston,  the 
Charleston  and  Columbia.  These  seem  not  to  have 
been  used  by  the  South  in  fighting  around  Charleston. 
Wj^n  the  city  was  given  up  to  the  Northern  soldiers 
in  1865,  all  four  of  these  rams  were  found  sunk  and 
partly  destroyed. 

The  career  of  the  ram  Atlanta,  which  was  cap- 


188  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

turcd  at  the  mouth  of  Wassaw  Sound  by  the  monitor 
Weehawken,  when  two  boatloads  of  people  came 
down  from  Savannah  to  see  the  fight,  has  already  been 
described  in  part.  The  Atlanta  was  the  only  one  of 
the  Southern  rams  that  saw  service  in  the  Northern 
navy.  After  she  was  captured  she  was  on  guard  with 
other  Northern  ships  at  the  mouth  of  the  James  River, 
when,  on  January  23,  1865,  three  Southern  rams,  the 
Fredericksburg,  Richmond,  and  Virginia  No.  2, 
which  had  been  built  up  the  James,  came  down  the 
river.  The  Virginia  and  the  Richmond  ran  aground, 
but  floated  off  arid  all  went  back  up  the  river.  There 
was  no  more  trouble  with  that  group  of  vessels. 

In  addition  to  the  Albemarle,  destroyed  by  Gush 
ing,  the  South  built  two  more  rains  on  the  North  Caro 
lina  sounds.  One  of  these  was  the  North  Carolina 
and  the  other  was  the  Raleigh.  On  the  night  of  May 
17,  1864,  the  North  Carolina  came  out  of  New  Inlet, 
and  fired  several  shots  at  five  small  vessels  of  the  North 
on  blockade  duty.  The  shots  did  little  damage,  and 
the  North  Carolina  went  back  up  the  stream  and  never 
came  down  again.  After  the  war  was  over  she  and  the 
Raleigh  were  found  wrecked  a  short  distance  below 
Wilmington. 

The  only  ram  the  South  owned  that  was  not  built 
there  and  that  saw  service  was  one  called  the  Stone 
wall.  She  was  one  of  six  vessels  built  for  the  South  in 
France,  and  was  also  the  only  one  of  the  group  to 


QUEER  BOATS  USED  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.     189 

leave  that  country.  She  went  to  Ferrol,  Spain,  in 
March,  1865,  where  the  Northern  vessels  Niagara  and 
Sacramento  found  her.  The  Stonewall  was  very 
heavily  armed,  and  Commodore  Craven,  who  was  in 
charge  of  the  Northern  vessels,  decided  not  to  fight 
her  because  he  thought  his  vessels  would  be  lost.  He 
therefore  let  the  Stonewall  leave  the  harbor.  She 
went  at  once  to  Lisbon  arid  after  that  to  Havana, 
where  she  was  when  the  war  ended.  Spain  gave  her 
up  to  the  United  States,  and  she  was  sold  afterward 
to  Japan.  She  saw  no  fighting  in  the  war. 

Early  in  1862  the  North  saw  that  if  it  would 
cope  with  the  Southern  troops  along  the  Mississippi 
and  its  branches,  it  must  have  a  new  kind  of  vessel, 
to  go  up  the  shallow  streams  and  engage  with  soldiers 
along  the  banks.  This  kind  of  fighting  was  sometimes 
called  "  bushwhacking."  Riflemen  and  sharpshooters 
would  be  hidden  in  the  brush  and  grass  along  the  small 
rivers  to  pick  off  men  on  Northern  vessels  that  might 
be  passing.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  build  a 
fleet  of  what  were  called  tinclads.  They  were  small 
steamers  with  stern  wheels  and  covered  all  around  to  a 
height  of  eleven  feet  with  sheet  iron,  from  one  half  to 
three  quarters  of  an  inch  thick.  Ordinary  bullets 
could  not  pierce  this  iron.  The  boilers  had  an  extra 
plating  of  iron.  The  boats  drew  three  feet  of  water 
but  sometimes  only  twenty  inches.  They  could  carry 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  as  a  crew.  They 


190  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

generally  had  eight  small  guns.  They  couldn't  fight 
against  forts  very  well  or  against  large  ships,  but  they 
could  fight  with  light  artillery  and  infantry  on  a  river 
bank,  and  they  showed  their  value  many  times  in  the 
rivers,  fighting  along  the  branches  of  the  Mississippi. 
One  of  these  occasions  was  on  January  9  and  10, 
1863,  when  the  nine  tinclads  in  Porter's  fleet,  with 
three  strong  vessels  to  help  them,  went  fifty  miles  up 
the  Arkansas  River  to  assist  the  army  in  taking  Ar 
kansas  Post.  The  tinclads  fought  furiously,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  the  seventeen  guns  in  the  fort 
were  put  out  of  action.  The  fort  was  forced  to  give 
up  before  the  army  could  get  into  position  to  attack  it. 
Another  class  of  boats  that  the  North  built,  and 
that  became  well  known,  was  the  kind  known  as  double- 
enders.  These  were  used  in  narrow  rivers  and  chan 
nels,  chiefly  along  the  Atlantic  coast.  They  were 
very  small  boats,  and  drew  only  a  few  feet  of  water. 
They  were  like  ferryboats,  in  that  they  had  a  rudder 
at  each  end,  and  were  unlike  ferryboats  in  that  each 
end  had  a  sharp  bow.  These  boats  could  go  backward 
or  forward,  as  the  case  might  be,  and  they  were  of 
great  use  in  the  very  small  streams,  because  when  they 
wanted  to  run  away  or  make  a  quick  advance  they 
never  had  to  turn  around.  Most  of  them  carried  eight 
small  guns,  and  two  or  three  had  twelve  guns.  They 
wTere  all  of  about  one  thousand  tons'  weight,  and  after 
the  war  most  of  them  were  sold.  Altogether  th§ 


QUEER  BOATS  USED  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR.     191 

North  built  forty-seven  of  these  double-enders  during 
the  war.  They  did  good  work  in  the  North  Carolina 
sounds  and  along  the  coast.  Among  them  were  the 
Metacomet,  Sassacus,  Wyalusing,  Mattabesett,  and 
others  mentioned  in  these  chapters. 

The  one  type  of  boats  which  appeared  for  the  first 
time  during  the  civil  war,  and  which  has  lasted  until 
the  present  day,  was  the  type  known  as  monitors. 
The  great  fight  of  the  original  Monitor  against  the 
Merrimac  showed  that  the  right  idea  had  been  used  in 
building  her,  and  the  North  hurried  to  build  some 
more.  It  was  plain  that  the  old  wooden  fighting  ship 
was  doomed.  Nine  of  these  monitors,  all  alike  and  a 
little  larger  than  the  original  Monitor,  were  built  first. 
These  were  the  monitors  which  took  a  leading  part  in 
the  fighting  in  and  about  Charleston  harbor.  Then 
there  were  built  what  were  called  light-draught  moni 
tors.  Tt  was  intended  to  use  these  against  Fort  Fisher 
and  on  the  small  rivers  of  the  South.  A  mistake  was 
made  in  their  plans,  so  that  they  did  not  float  in  the 
water  at  the  proper  height.  Most  of  them  were  broken 
up  at  the  end  of  the  war.  Before  the  fighting  was 
over  the  North  had  built  thirteen  monitors  with 
double  turrets,  and  these  are  the  type  of  the  strictly 
strongest  fighting  vessels  of  to-day.  They  lie  low  in 
the  water,  have  a  very  thick  turret  and  armor,  and  for 
mere  fighting  naval  experts  have  said  they  are  the  best 
kind  of  vessel. 


192  OUR  NAVY  IN   TIME  OF   WAR. 

The  North  built  more  than  forty  monitors  of  vari 
ous  sizes  during  the  war.  After  the  war  was  ended 
one  of  them,  the  Miantonomoh,  was  sent  to  England, 
to  show  that  it  was  possible  for  that  kind  of  vessel  to 
cross  the  ocean.  The  Miantonomoh  is  still  in  the 
United  States  navy.  Another  of  the  monitors,  the 
Monadnock,  went  around  South  America,  from  New 
York  to  San  Francisco.  While  these  boats  are  not 
fast,  they  are  what  is  known  as  good  sea  boats,  because 
they  do  not  roll  and  pitch  as  much  as  ordinary  vessels 
do  in  storms  at  sea.  The  waves  break  over  their  flat 
decks  and  roll  off  quickly.  If  they  could  carry  more 
coal  there  is  little  doubt  that  they  could  go  anywhere 
and  ride  out  any  gale. 


CHAPTER  XL 

VESSELS    DESTROYED    BY    TORPEDOES. 

EARLY  in  1862  the  South  saw  that  probably  the 
only  way  it  could  overcome  the  Xorthern  navy  would 
be  to  destroy  the  ships  by  torpedoes.  The  effort  of  the 
South  to  build  a  navy  did  not  have  the  result  that  was 
desired.  The  ships  of  the  2srorth  could  sail  into  the 
rivers  and  bays  of  the  South,  and  could  blockade  the 
coasts  without  fear  of  meeting  Southern  ships  of  a 
similar  size.  Aside  from  the  rains  of  the  South,  the 
other  vessels  which  were  made  into  war  ships  really 
amounted  to  very  little.  There  was  only  one  thing  to 
do  in  order  to  keep  the  Northern  ships  away  from  the 
forts  on  the  ocean  front  or  up  the  rivers,  and  that  was 
to  use  some  means  of  destroying  them. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  civil  war  torpedoes  had  not 
been  used  much.  The  Russians  had  planted  them  in 
nd  near  the  Black  Sea  in  the  Crimean  War,  but  no 
ships  were  destroyed.  Most  of  the  naval  officers  in  the 
United  States  navy  at  that  time  believed  that  the  use 
of  torpedoes  was  inhuman  and  unchristian.  When 

the  South  first  began  to  sprinkle  its  bays  and  rivers 

193 


194  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF   WAR. 

with  them  in  1862  it  was  done  in  secret,  and  some  of 
the  men  engaged  in  it  felt  that  perhaps  it  was  a  wrong 
kind  of  warfare.  However,  there  was  nothing  else  to 
be  done,  and  in  October,  1862,  a  secret  service  was 
formed  for  this  work  alone.  Soon  after  that  the  North 
began  to  have  great  difficulty  in  its  naval  work  along 
the  coast.  When  the  great  battles  of  Hatteras,  Port 
Royal,  and  New  Orleans  were  fought,  the  Northern 
vessels  met  no  torpedoes,  while  later,  at  the  fights  at 
Wilmington,  Charleston,  and  Mobile,  torpedoes  were 
found  in  large  numbers  and  they  did  great  damage  to 
Northern  ships.  Altogether,  seven  monitors  and 
eleven  wooden  vessels  of  the  North  were  destroyed  by 
these  torpedoes.  All  the  eannon  in  the  Southern  forts 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  war  did  not  do  so 
much  damage  to  the  ships  of  the  North  as  the  tor 
pedoes  did. 

Torpedoes  in  the  civil  war  were  found  first  on 
February  18,  1862,  in  the  Savannah  River  above  Fort 
Pulaski.  They  were  water-tight  tin  cases,  filled  with 
powder,  and  Avere  stretched  across  the  river  at  regular 
intervals,  the  cable  to  which  they  were  attached  being 
fastened  below  the  water  on  each  bank.  An  anchor 
held  the  torpedoes,  so  that  at  high  tide  they  were  not 
to  be  seen,  but  at  low  tide  they  floated  on  the  surface 
of  the  water.  An  electric  wire  ran  to  them,  in  order 
to  explode  them.  The  Northern  ships  saw  these  tor 
pedoes  at  low  tide  and  gathered  up  some  of  them.  No 


VESSELS  DESTROYED  BY  TORPEDOES.         195 

damage  came  to  the  boats  from  them.  Hundreds  of 
torpedoes  like  these  were  soon  found  in  small  rivers 
and  bays,  but  they  did  almost  no  damage  to  Northern 
ships. 

During  the  winter  of  1862— ' 63  the  secret  service 
bureau  of  the  South,  which  had  charge  of  the  torpedo 
warfare,  planned  three  kinds  of  these  weapons;  they 
were  the  frame  torpedoes,  the  floating  torpedoes,  and 
the  electric  torpedoes.  The  frame  torpedoes  were  gen 
erally  made  by  placing  large  caps  containing  gunpow 
der  on  a  wooden  frame,  which  was  fastened  at  one  end 
to  a  dock  or  some  piling.  The  other  end  of  the  frame 
would  rise  and  fall  with  the  water,  and  a  ship  running 
across  the  frame  would  strike  the  torpedoes,  explode 
them,  and  be  blown  up  itself.  These  torpedoes  could 
be  used  only  in  shallow  streams,  but  scores  of  them 
were  found  in  the  small  rivers  about  Charleston.  No 
ship  ever  got  past  one  of  these  sets.  Two  years  after 
the  war,  the  United  States  gunboat  Jonquil  was  nearly 
destroyed  at  Charleston  while  removing  one  of  these 
frames. 

The  floating  torpedoes  were  made  from  beer  kegs 
chiefly.  Some  were  also  made  of  tin,  and  both  kinds 
were  set  off  when  a  boat  struck  'the  firing  caps  that 
stuck  out  from  the  torpedoes  in  several  places.  These 
floating  torpedoes  contained  from  seventy  to  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty  pounds  of  powder,  and  they  were  the 
most  dangerous  and  the  cheapest  used  in  the  war. 


Torpedoes  used  by  the  South. 


VESSELS  DESTROYED  BY  TORPEDOES.    197 

Two  Southern  steamers,  the  Marion  and  Ettiwan,  were 
blown  up  by  accident  in  Charleston  harbor  while  put 
ting  them  down.  Another  Southern  boat,  called  the 
Schultz,  was  destroyed  by  one  on  the  James  River 
while  under  a  flag  of  truce,  several  Southern  prisoners 
who  had  been  received  from  the  North  in  exchange 
being  killed. 

The  electric  torpedoes  were  generally  very  large, 
and  were  planted  in  the  mud  over  which  Northern 
ships  would  have  to  pass  to  attack  a  fort.  Some  of 
these  torpedoes  contained  as  much  as  two  thousand 
pounds  of  gunpowder.  They  were  blown  up  by  elec 
tricity  from  a  distance.  They  were  the  beginning  of 
the  harbor  mine  as  it  is  known  to-day. 

Then  there  were  other  kinds  of  small  torpedoes, 
the  chief  of  which  were  the  clockwork  and  the  coal 
torpedoes.  The  clockwork  torpedo  was  simply  a  small 
box  containing  gunpowder,  with  some  clockwork  in 
side,  which  at  the  end  of  a  given  time  set  off  the  box. 
This  kind  of  torpedo  was  used  to  blow  up  storehouses 
and  magazines.  At  City  Point,  on  the  James  River, 
in  1864,  a  man  who  was  supposed  to  be  an  ordinary 
laborer  carried  one  of  these  clockwork  torpedoes  on 
board  a  Northern  barge  loaded  with  powder.  Soon 
the  torpedo  exploded,  and  the  barge,  the  wharves, 
several  storehouses,  and  vessels  were  destroyed,  and 
a  number  of  men  killed.  The  coal  torpedo  was  a 
block  of  cast  iron,  in  the  shape  of  a  lump  of  steam- 


198  OUR  NAVY   IN   TIME   OF   WAR. 

boat  coal.  It  contained  about  ten  pounds  of  powder, 
and  on  the  outside  there  was  a  mixture  of  tar  and  coal 
dust,  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  tell  a  torpedo  by 
sight  from  a  large  chunk  of  coal.  These  coal  tor 
pedoes  were  hidden  by  spies  in  the  coal  heaps  from 
which  Northern  vessels  were  supplied.  When  they 
were  thrown  into  the  fire,  of  course  they  exploded. 
The  Northern  steamer  Greyhound,  one  of  the  finest 
vessels  on  the  James  River,  was  blown  up  by  one  of 
the  coal  torpedoes  while  General  Butler  and  Admiral 
Porter  were  on  board.  They  and  the  crew  of  the  ship 
escaped  with  some  difficulty  to  the  shore. 

It  was  on  December  12,  1862,  that  the  first  North 
ern  vessel  was  lost  through  torpedoes.  Captain  Walke 
had  been  sent  up  the  Yazoo  River  with  the  ironclad 
Cairo,  one  of  the  strongest  of  the  Northern  vessels 
on  the  Mississippi,  and  four  small  boats  to  attack  the 
Southern  navy  yard  at  Yazoo,  and  destroy  the  ves 
sels  there.  About  sixteen  miles  from  the  mouth  of 
the  river  floating  torpedoes  were  seen,  and  the  gun 
boat  Marmora  began  to  shoot  at  them.  The  com 
mander  of  the  Cairo  hurried  to  the  Marmora  with  his 
ship,  but  before  he  reached  the  other  vessel  two  ex 
plosions  were  felt  beneath  the  Cairo,  and  in  twelve 
miniates  she  sank  out  of  sight,  except  the  tops  of  her 
smokestacks.  Although  half  a  dozen  men  were  hurt, 
no  one  was  drowned. 

Another  ironclad  of  great  strength  was  lost  in  the 


VESSELS  DESTROYED  BY   TORPEDOES.         199 

Yazoo  River  through  torpedoes  on  July  22,  1863. 
She  was  the  De  Kalb.  She  was  going  up  the  river  to 
assist  in  an  attack  on  Yazoo  City,  and  was  badly  dam 
aged  by  a  floating  torpedo  which  did  not  come  to  the 
surface  of  the  water  and  could  not  be  seen.  She  sank 
in  fifteen  minutes.  Many  of  her  crew  were  hurt,  but 
no  one  was  killed.  The  vessel  was  completely 
wrecked,  and  although  an  attempt  was  made  to  raise 
her  it  came  to  nothing.  A  fate  like  that  of  the  De 
Kalb  came  to  the  ironclad  Eastport  on  the  Red  River 
during  the  famous  Red  River  expedition  by  the  army 
and  the  navy.  When  the  ships  were  coming  back, 
after  the  army  had  been  beaten  along  the  river,  the 
Eastport  struck  a  small  floating  torpedo  and  went  to 
the  bottom,  no  lives  being  lost. 

It  was  along  the  Atlantic  coast  that  the  greatest 
damage  was  done  to  Xorthern  ships  by  these  vessels. 
The  first  Northern  boat  injured  on  the  James  River 
was  the  Commodore  Barney,  on  August  8,  1863. 
General  Foster  went  up  the  river  on  the  Barney  to 
within  a  few  miles  of  Drewry's  Bluff.  On  coming 
back,  an  electric  torpedo  was  exploded  just  after  the 
Barney  had  passed  over  it.  A  great  waterspout  was 
thrown  up  and  twenty  of  the  crew  were  washed  over 
board.  Several  of  them  were  drowned.  The  Barney 
was  damaged  severely,  but  was  repaired  afterward. 

On  May  4,  1864,  an  expedition  of  the  army  and 
navy  went  up  the  James  River  to  seize  City  Point  and 


200  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

Bermuda  Hundred.  General  Grant  and  his  army 
were  in  that  neighborhood,  and  the  James  River  ex 
pedition  was  intended  to  help  him.  There  were  eight  or 
ten  gunboats  in  the  fleet  that  went  up  the  river.  It 
was  necessary  to  go  very  slowly,  because  a  company  of 
sailors  had  to  march  along  the  southern  bank  of  the 
river  to  search  for  wires  that  were  used  in  exploding 
torpedoes  in  the  stream.  The  fleet  reached  a  sharp 
bend  in  the  river  at  a  place  called  Deep  Bottom.  A 
negro  went  aboard  one  of  the  ships  at  this  place,  and 
gave  the  news  that  there  were  a  large  number  of  tor 
pedoes  in  the  river  at  that  place. 

A  gunboat  named  the  Commodore  Jones  was  in 
the  lead  of  the  fleet,  and  had  small  boats  out  in  front 
and  behind  searching  for  torpedoes.  The  men  on  the 
river  bank  could  find  no  wires.  An  order  was  sig 
naled  to  the  Jones  to  back  because  she  was  in  danger, 
and  just  as  her  wheels  began  to  turn  a  great  explosion 
occurred.  It  seemed  as  if  the  bottom  of  the  river  was 
torn  up  and  blown  through  the  vessel  itself.  The 
Jones  was  lifted  almost  entirely  clear  of  the  water, 
and  she  burst  in  the  air  like  an  exploding  firecracker. 
She  was  in  small  pieces  when  she  struck  the  water 
again.  ~No  one  knew  exactly  how  many  were  killed, 
but  it  was  estimated  that  not  less  than  forty  officers 
and  men  lost  their  lives.  One  of  the  strangest  escapes 
was  that  of  an  engineer  who  was  working  at  the  ma 
chinery.  He  was  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  and  was 


VESSELS  DESTROYED  BY  TORPEDOES.         201 

blown  up  with  that  part  of  the  vessel,  but  landed  in 
the  water  without  serious  injury. 

Three  men  were  seen  to  run  from  some  bushes 
on  the  northern  bank  of  the  river  as  soon  as  the  ex 
plosion  occurred.  They  were  the  men  who  had  set 
off  the  mine.  One  of  them  was  shot  dead  and  the 
others  were  captured.  The  night  before  the  fleet 
reached  Deep  Bottom,  knowing  that  the  Northern 
sailors  were  scouring  the  southern  bank  of  the  stream 
for  mines,  the  three  men  had  taken  the  wires  across  to 
the  other  bank,  where  they  could  work  without  being 
seen.  During  the  months  of  May  and  June  large 
numbers  of  floating  torpedoes  were  sent  down  the 
James  River  to  destroy  the  Northern  ships,  but  they 
were  all  caught  before  they  reached  the  vessels. 

A  small  fleet  of  wooden  vessels  started  up  the 
Roanoke  River,  in  North  Carolina,  on  December  9, 
1864,  to  go  to  a  place  called  Rainbow  Bluff.  It  was 
known  that  there  were  torpedoes  in  the  river,  and  the 
vessels  moved  with  great  caution.  The  fleet  had  not 
gone  far,  however,  before  one  of  the  gunboats,  the 
Otsego,  a  double-ender,  was  blown  up  and  several  of 
her  crew  killed.  The  other  vessels  of  the  fleet  hurried 
to  the  assistance  of  the  Otsego,  and  just  as  one  of  them, 
called  the  Bazeley,  reached  the  Otsego's  side,  she  was. 
also  blown  up  and  destroyed.  The  expedition  at  once 
retired. 

On  January  15,  1865,  there  occurred  one  of  the 


202  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

great  disasters  to  the  navy  through  the  explosion  of  a 
war  ship  by  a  torpedo.  The  monitor  Patapsco,  which 
had  been  on  duty  off  Charleston,  S.  C.,  for  a  long 
time,  and  which  had  taken  part  in  the  heavy  fight 
ing  there,  was  passing  between  Forts  Sumter  and 
Moultrie  on  picket  duty.  A  muffled  roar  was  heard, 
the  ship  lurched  heavily,  and  began  to  sink.  She 
went  down  almost  immediately.  Every  one  on  board 
who  was  not  on  deck  or  near  the  companion  ways  to 
the  decks  was  lost.  Only  forty-three  officers  and  men 
were  saved,  and  sixty-two  officers  and  men  were  killed 
or  drowned.  Every  care  had  been  taken  against  such 
an  accident.  Small  boats  had  searched  the  very  place 
where  the  Patapsco  was  sunk,  and  several  large  ves 
sels  had  passed  over  the  spot.  The  Southern  officers  in 
Charleston  had  watched  the  course  that  the  Patapsco 
and  other  vessels  took  in  their  nightly  picket  duty, 
aind  in  the  darkness  of  the  night  before  the  explosion 
had  placed  a  torpedo  in  the  path  that  the  Patapsco 
would  take.  The  torpedo  was  set  off  by  electricity 
the  moment  the  Patapsco  was  over  it. 

After  Eort  Eisher  had  been  taken,  Admiral  Por 
ter's  fleet  went  up  the  Cape  Fear  River  to  help  cap 
ture  Wilmington,  N.  C.  The  river  was  full  of  tor 
pedoes,  but  good  fortune  followed  the  work  of  Porter's 
men  in  finding  them  and  exploding  them.  Just  before 
the  vessels  of  the  fleet  reached  Wilmington  more  than 
two  hundred  floating  torpedoes  were  sent  down  the 


I 


1 


204  OUR  NAVY  TN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

river  against  the  vessels.  Picket  boats  in  advance  of 
the  fleet  sent  up  a  signal,  and  all  the  small  boats  of  the 
ships  were  sent  out  in  a  hurry  to  gather  up  the  tor 
pedoes  as  they  came  down.  It  was  dangerous  work. 
Most  of  the  torpedoes  were  guided  clear  of  the  vessels 
and  were  exploded  by  shooting  into  them.  One  of  the 
small  boats  engaged  in  the  work  was  destroyed  and 
four  men  were  killed  and  wounded.  Fish  nets  were 
spread  across  the  river  the  next  day,  and  there  was 
no  more  trouble  from  the  floating  torpedoes. 

On  March  1,  1865,  Admiral  Dahlgren  set  out  early 
in  the  morning  with  his  flagship,  the  Harvest  Moon, 
from  Georgetown,  S.  C.,  to  go  to  Charleston  harbor. 
He  had  not  gone  more  than  three  miles  below  the 
city  when  an  explosion  like  that  of  the  bursting  of 
a  boiler  was  heard.  There  was  great  confusion  at 
once,  and  in  a  few  moments  the  Harvest  Moon  was 
on  the  bottom.  Only  one  life  was  lost  in  this  disaster. 

Although  the  war  was  nearly  over,  the  most  seri 
ous  losses  to  the  navy  through  torpedoes,  so  far  as  the 
number  of  vessels  was  concerned,  were  yet  to  occur. 
Within  two  weeks,  in  the  harbor  of  Mobile,  no  less 
than  five  war  ships,  two  of  which  were  double-turreted 
monitors,  and  one  launch  were  destroyed.  The  first 
of  these  vessels  to  be  lost  was  the  monitor  Milwaukee. 
With  the  monitor  Winnebago  she  had  been  up  Dog 
River  on  March  28,  1865,  to  shell  a  place  called  Span 
ish  Fort.  On  the  way  back  to  the  fleet  in  the  harbor 


VESSELS  DESTROYED  BY  TORPEDOES.         205 

a  torpedo  was  blown  up  under  the  Milwaukee,  and 
the  stern  of  the  monitor  sank  in  three  minutes.  The 
bow  remained  above  the  water  for  nearly  an  hour  and 
all  on  board  escaped.  On  the  next  day  the  water  was 
rough  in  the  bay,  and  the  monitor  Winnebago  dragged 
her  anchor.  She  was  in  danger  of  collision  with  the 
monitor  Osage,  and  the  Osage,  to  avoid  an  accident, 
raised  her  anchor  and  started  for  a  new  berth.  She 
had  just  reached  a  new  anchorage  when  she  struck  a 
torpedo  and  sank  almost  at  once.  None  of  the  crew 
was  drowned,  but  five  were  killed  and  eleven  wounded 
by  the  explosion. 

Two  days  after  this  the  Northern  vessel  Rodolph 
was  sent  toward  the  sunken  monitor  Milwaukee  with 
some  machinery  that  was  to  be  used  in  trying  to  raise 
that  vessel.  The  Rodolph  was  passing  between  the 
monitors  Chickasaw  and  Winnebago  when  she  was 
blown  up  by  a  torpedo  that  made  a  hole  in  the  bottom 
underneath  the  bow  ten  feet  in  diameter.  In  a  few 
minutes  the  Rodolph  was  on  the  bottom  of  the  harbor. 
Four  men  were  killed  and  eleven  wounded.  On 
April  14th,  twelve  days  later,  the  small  gunboat 
Scioto,  while  going  from  one  vessel  of  the  fleet  to  an 
other,  ran  against  a  torpedo  which  was  below  the  sur 
face  of  the  water.  The  torpedo  exploded,  and  the  bot 
tom  of  the  vessel  was  torn  out  for  several  feet.  Four 
men  were  killed  and  six  were  wounded. 

The  tugboats  Ida  and  Althea,  with  a  launch  of  the 


VESSELS  DESTROYED  BY  TORPEDOES.         207 

Cincinnati,  were  engaged  during  the  first  part  of  April, 
1805,  with  other  small  vessels  in  searching  the  harbor 
of  Mobile  for  these  torpedoes,  which  were  doing  great 
damage  to  the  fleet.  On  April  12th  the  Althea,  while 
dragging  the  channel  with  a  chain  attached  to  some 
spars,  struck  a  torpedo  and  went  down  at  once,  two 
men  being  killed  and  two  wounded.  The  next  day 
the  tugboat  Ida,  while  engaged  in  similar  work,  also 
ran  afoul  of  a  torpedo.  In  the  explosion  the  boilers 
of  the  Ida  were  blown  up  and  she  went  down.  The 
launch  of  the  Cincinnati  was  destroyed  on  the  same 
day  while  hunting  for  torpedoes. 

Of  course  the  most  serious  disaster  to  the  Northern 
fleet  in  the  work  in  and  around  Mobile  Bay  was  the 
loss  of  the  monitor  Tecumseh  when  the  fleet  was  pass 
ing  Fort  Morgan  during  the  great  battle  there.  An 
account  of  this  disaster  was  given  in  the  chapter  de 
scribing  this  tight.  After  Fort  Morgan  had  sur 
rendered,  men  from  the  Northern  fleet  were  sent  to 
remove  the  line  of  torpedoes  which  had  been  stretched 
across  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  and  one  of  which  had 
sunk  the  Tecumseh.  While  engaged  in  this  work 
five  men  were  killed  and  eleven  wounded  by  the  ex 
plosion  of  a  torpedo  which  was  not  handled  with  proper 
care. 

The  war  was  now  over,  practically,  and  with  the 
loss  of  so  many  vessels  in  Mobile  Bay  in  the  latter  part 
of  March  and  the  first  part  of  April,  1865,  torpedo 


208  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OP   WAR. 

Avarfare  really  ended.  It  showed  that  in  time  of  war 
a  weak  nation  that  is  attacked  must  rely  on  torpedoes 
for  safety  from  the  navy  of  an  enemy.  It  also  showed 
that  in  the  future  torpedoes  were  to  have  a  prominent 
part  in  warfare.  Still  many  of  the  officers  of  the  navy 
did  not  like  them.  Among  these  officers  was  the  great 
Farragut,  who  once  said  in  a  report  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  ^avy  that  he  had  always  thought  the  use  of 
torpedoes  was  unworthy  of  a  great  nation,  and  that 
he  had  adopted  them  only  because  he  was  compelled 
to  do  so.  That  same  reason  accounts  largely  for  their 
use  the  world  over  for  protecting  harbors  at  the  pres 
ent  day. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    GREAT    BLOCKADE ALABAMA    AND    KEARSARGE 

FIGHT. 

SOME  of  the  most  exciting  events  of  the  civil  war 
in  which  the  navy  took  part  occurred  as  the  result  of 
the  great  blockade  of  the  south  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
coasts.  It  was  on  April  19,  1861,  that  President  Lin 
coln  proclaimed  a  blockade  of  the  Atlantic,  from 
South  Carolina  to  the  lower  end  of  Florida.  At  that 
time  the  North  had  only  three  steamers  which  it  coul'd 
use  in  blockading  this  coast.  On  April  30th,  the 
States  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  having  left  the 
Union,  President  Lincoln  extended  the  blockade 
northward  from  South  Carolina  to  the  Chesapeake 
Bay.  It  is  a  rule  in  war  that  if  a  blockade  is  set 
up  it  must  really  do  the  work  of  a  blockade,  or  other 
nations  are  not  bound  to  respect  it.  It  was  a  great 
task  that  the  President  set  for  the  navy  to  do.  Noth 
ing  like  it  had  ever  been  known. 

The  distance  along  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts 
from  the  Chesapeake  Bay  to  the  northern  boundary 
of  Mexico  was  3,549  miles.  If  the  outlines  of 


•ilium 


THE   GREAT   BLOCKADE.  211 

the  bays  and  sounds  and  harbors  were  followed, 
the  distance  was  6,789  miles.  There  were  185  river 
and  harbor  openings  to  be  watched.  Month  by  month 
the  force  of  vessels  engaged  in  this  work  increased, 
until  at  the  end  of  the  war  there  were  more  than  six 
hundred  of  them  on  blockade  duty.  Altogether 
1,504  prizes  were  taken  by  the  vessels  in  this  work 
during  the  war.  Of  these  1,504,  210  were  steamers. 
More  than  350  of  the  prizes  were  burned  or  sunk,  and 
of  this  number  85  were  steamers.  The  value  of  the 
vessels  destroyed  by  the  blockading  fleet  was  about 
$32,000,000. 

Cut  off  from  traffic  at  sea,  and  with  no  supplies 
except  those  of  the  farm  for  its  own  use,  the  South 
had  to  depend  on  vessels  which  were  known  as  block 
ade  runners  in  order  to  sell  its  cotton  in  Europe  and 
to  receive  in  return  necessaries,  such  as  food,  medi 
cines,  iron,  and  articles  of  manufacture  that  it  did 
not  possess.  It  was  dangerous  and  exciting  work 
to  run  the  blockade,  and  during  the  years  1863-'64 
it  was  very  profitable  for  those  engaged  in  it.  The 
blockade  runners  started  usually  from  St.  Thomas, 
Havana,  Nassau,  or  Bermuda.  All  of  these  places 
were  within  less  than  one  thousand  miles  of  the  South 
ern  ports,  and  it  is  on  record  that  in  the  month  of 
June,  1863,  no  less  than  ninety-one  sailing  vessels  left 
the  port  of  Nassau  alone  for  various  rivers  and  har 
bors  in  the  South.  About  one  in  four  of  the  blockade 


212 


OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF   WAR. 


runners  was  sure  to  be  caught.  At  first  these  vessels 
were  mostly  sailing  craft.  In  1863,  however,  special 
steamers  that  were  built  in  England  began  to  engage 
in  the  trade.  They  were  long  and  low,  and  were  usu 
ally  painted  grey.  The  smokestacks  could  be  lowered, 
and  the  masts  were  really  thin  poles.  Hard  coal  was 
burned  in  the  furnaces,  so  as  to  make  little  smoke,  and 
steam  was  discharged  under  water.  Most  of  these  ves 
sels  could  go  at  the  rate  of  seventeen  knots  an  hour. 
They  approached  the  coast  at  night,  and  lights,  placed 


Typical  blockade  runner. 

in  huts  and  other  buildings,  were  used  as  ranges  for 
them  to  creep  into  ports. 

Some  of  these  blockade  runners  were  very  bold. 
While  the  battle  of  Fort  Fisher  was  going  on,  one  of 
them  joined  the  Northern  fleet.  She  put  some  soft 
coal  in  her  furnaces,  and  black  smoke  ponrod  out  of 
her  funnels.  The  men  in  Porter's  fleet  thought  she 
was  one  of  their  own  ships  and  paid  no  attention  to 
her.  When  no  one  was  looking  she  sailed  right  into 
the  Cape  Fear  Eiver  through  the  thick  smoke  of  the 


THE  GREAT  BLOCKADE.  213 

battle  and  passed  up  to  Wilmington  safely.  While 
Farragut  was  preparing  to  enter  Mobile  Bay  one  of 
these  runners  came  up,  and,  noticing  the  preparations 
that  were  going  on  for  battle,  sailed  through  Farra- 
gut's  fleet  and  disappeared  inside  the  harbor.  They 
were  up  to  all  sorts  of  tricks,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
take  all  kinds  of  chances.  They  displayed  false  lights 
and  false  flags,  always  gave  a  wrong  name  when  they 
were  hailed  and  asked  who  they  were,  and  when  they 
were  captured  always  threw  overboard  papers  and 
other  documents  that  would  reveal  their  real  nature. 

Two  or  three  trips  would  pay  for  the  cost  of  any 
vessel,  and  some  of  these  runners  stole  into  port  as 
many  as  twenty-five  times.  Before  the  war  ended  a 
pound  of  tea  was  worth  two  or  three  hundred  dol 
lars  in  Southern  money  in  Wilmington,  N".  C.,  and 
other  supplies  were  enormously  expensive.  Great 
Britain  depended  almost  entirely  upon  the  South 
for  the  cotton  for  its  mills,  and  there  was  great  dis 
tress  iri  England  because  the  mills  were  shut  down. 
No  less  than  $10,000,000  was  spent  in  England 
to  keep  people  who  had  no  work  because  of  the 
war  from  starving.  By  bringing  in  food  from  Eng 
lish  and  other  ports,  and  by  taking  out  cotton  for 
English  mills,  the  profits  of  the  blockade  runners 
were  very  high.  One  of  them  is  known  to  have 
made  more  than  $90,000  in  one  month.  The  wages 
of  the  captain  was  usually  $5,000  a  month.  From 


Commodore  Foo 

Commodore  Worden. 


Admiral  Farragut. 


Heroes  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion. 


Lieutenant  Gushing. 
Commodore  Porter. 


THE   GREAT   BLOCKADE.  215 

.March  1,  ISC)-!-,  to  January  1,  1805,  for  instance,  the 
cotton  that  was  shipped  out  of  the  South  by  these 
run  HITS  amounted  iu  value  to  more  than  $5,000,000 
in  gold.  It  is  on  record  that  in  two  months  and  a 
little  more,  in  the  latter  part  of  1804,  more  than 
S, 000,000  pounds  oi'  meat,  1,500,000  pounds  of  lead, 
nearly  2,000,000  pounds  of  saltpeter,  nearly  550,000 
pairs  of  shoes,  more'  than  1500,000  pairs  of  blankets, 
about  500,000  pounds  of  coffee,  nearly  70,000  rilles, 
and  nearly  2,700  packages  of  medicine  were  smuggled 
into  the  ports  of  Wilmington  and  Charleston  alone. 
There  were  hundreds  of  vessels  engaged  in  this  work. 
Another  class  of  vessels  that  appeared  upon  the 
seas  as  the  result  of  the  blockade  was  what  was  known 
as  privateers.  These-  were  vessels  whose  work  it  was  to 
capture  vessels  of  the  .North  and  bring  them  into  port 
as  prizes.  Privateers  were  so  called  because  they  were 
owiied  by  private  persons,  but  were  sent  out  by  the 
South,  as  they  had  been  sent  out  by  the  United 
States  in  1812,  to  destroy  the  commerce  of  the  enemy. 
The  first  of  these  vessels  permitted  to  sail  by  the  South 
was  the  small  pilot  boat  Savannah,  which  ran  out  from 
Charleston  on  June  2,  1801.  She  captured  a  prize  off 
the  coast  of  South  Carolina  in  a  day  or  two,  and  was 
captured  herself  soon  afterward  when  she  chased  the 
Northern  man-of-war  Perry,  thinking  that  the  Perry 
was  a  merchant  vessel.  The  crew  of  the  Savannah  was 
taken  to  New  York  and  put  in  prison,  and  for  a  time 


216  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WA.LI. 

there  was  talk  of  treating  them  as  pirates  and  of  hang 
ing  them,  but  it  was  decided  finally  to  treat  them  as 
prisoners  of  war,  when  it  became  known  that  the 
South  would  hang  prisoners  it  held  if  the  men  cap 
tured  on  privateers  were  hanged. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  Southern  priva 
teers  was  the  Jefferson  Davis.  She  was  a  fine  clipper 
ship,  and  captured  nearly  a  dozen  merchant  vessels 
before  she  was  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Florida  while 
trying  to  enter  the  St.  John's  River.  One  of  the  ves 
sels  captured  by  the  Jefferson  Davis  was  the  schooner 
S.  J.  "Waring,  bound  from  New  York  to  Montevideo. 
The  Waring  was  captured  about  a  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  from  Sandy  Hook.  On  board  the  Waring 
was  a  negro  cook  named  William  Tillman,  who  had 
escaped  from  slavery.  He  knew  that  if  the  Waring 
was  taken  to  a  Southern  port  he  would  become  a  slave 
again.  Five  men  from  the  Davis  had  been  placed 
upon  the  Waring  as  a  prize  crew.  The  negro  cook 
waited  until  the  vessel  was  within  fifty  miles  of 
Charleston,  when  he  stole  to  the  captain's  cabin  at 
night  and  killed  three  of  the  prize  crew.  Then  he 
took  charge  of  the  Waring,  and  by  following  the  coast 
brought  the  vessel  in  safety  back  to  New  York. 

There  were  half  a  dozen  other  privateers  that  set 
out  from  Charleston,  but  the  one  that  had  the  most 
exciting  and  unfortunate  experience  was  the  Petrel. 
She  was  so  anxious  to  get  a  prize  that  almost  as  soon 


THE  GREAT   BLOCKADE. 


217 


as  she  got  to  sea  she  went  on  a  long  chase  for  the 
Northern  frigate  St.  Lawrence.  The  men  on  the 
Petrel  were  so  unused  to  the  work  that  they  did  not 


The  city  of  Richmond  in  flames,  seen  from  the  James  River. 

know,  even  when  they  wore  at  close  range,  that  the 
St.  Lawrence  was  a  war  ship.  The  St.  Lawrence 
allowed  the  Petrel  to  come  very  near,  and  to  fire  two 
guns  across  her  bow  as  a  signal  to  stop.  The  St.  Law 
rence  kept  right  on,  and  finally  the  Petrel  fired  a 
shot  straight  at  her.  At  once  the  St.  Lawrence  swung 
around  and  fired  three  large  guns  at  the  Petrel.  The 
privateer  sank,  and  four  men  were  drowned.  The  St. 
Lawrence  saved  the  rest  of  the  crew. 

The  desire  of  the  North  to  capture  Southern  priva- 


218  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

teers  and  men  on  these  vessels  soon  extended  to  a 
plan  to  capture  agents  of  the  South  who  might  be 
leaving  the  country  for  Europe.  It  was  this  that 
led  to  what  is  known  as  the  "  Trent  affair."  The 
South  was  sending  two  of  its  best-known  citizens — 
James  Mason,  of  Virginia,  a  former  United  States 
Senator,  and  John  Slidell,  of  Louisiana,  former 
United  States  minister  to  Mexico — to  Europe  with 
their  secretaries  to  try  to  induce  England  and  France 
to  recognize  the  South  as  a  republic.  They  ran  out 
of  Charleston  harbor  on  October  12,  1861,  on  a  block 
ade  runner,  and  in  a  few  days  reached  Havana.  There 
they  engaged  passage  for  England  on  the  British 
steamer  Trent.  Captain  Charles  Wilkes,  who  was  off 
the  port  of  Cienfuegos,  Cuba,  with  the  United  States 
cruiser  San  Jacinto,  heard  that  Messrs.  Mason  and 
Slidell  were  in  Havana,  and  were  about  to  sail  on  the 
Trent.  lie  stopped  the  Trent  in  the  old  Bahama 
Channel  while  on  the  way  to  St.  Thomas  on  Novem 
ber  8,  1861.  He  sent  a  boat  to  the  Trent  and  took 
Messrs.  Mason,  Sildell,  and  their  secretaries  prisoners, 
and  then  sailed  for  Boston.  When  the  neAvs  became 
kno\vii  throughout  the  North  of  the  arrival  of  the  San 
Jacinto  with  her  prisoners  there  was  great  rejoicing, 
and  even  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  sent  a  telegram 
of  congratulation  to  Captain  Wilkes.  The  North  lost 
its  head  completely  for  a  time.  The  United  States 
had  gone  to  war  with  England  in  1812  for  almost 


THE   GREAT   BLOCKADE.  219 

the  same  reason  as  the  capture  of  Messrs.  Mason  and 
Slidell. 

When  the  news  reached  England  of  what  Captain 
Wilkes  had  done,  there  was  a  great  outburst  of  public 
rage.  England  demanded  at  once  that  the  prisoners 
should  be  released.  There  was  a  prospect  of  war  with 
England  if  this  was  not  done.  President  Lincoln 
ordered  the  men  to  be  set  at  liberty.  The  United 
States  was  clearly  in  the  wrong  in  this  matter.  It 
resulted,  really,  in  the  admission  by  Great  Britain- 
something  that  country  had  never  admitted  before — 
when  she  declared  that  it  was  wrong  to  take  men  by 
force  from  ships  flying  the  flag  of  another  country, 
that  the  United  States  was  right  in  the  War  of  1812. 

Another  kind  of  boats  that  the  South  used  to  a 
great  extent  in  the  war  was  known  as  commerce  de 
stroyers.  These  boats  were  really  war  ships,  and  they 
went  up  and  down  the  high  seas  capturing  merchant 
vessels  which  carried  the  United  States  flag.  They 
did  great  damage  to  American  shipping,  and  practi 
cally  drove  it  from  the  ocean.  The  first  of  these  ves 
sels  to  attract  attention  was  the  Sumter.  She  stole  out 
of  the  Mississippi  River  on  June  18,  1801,  and  al 
though  she  was  chased  by  a  Northern  war  ship  block 
ading  one  of  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi,  she  escaped 
and  went  cruising  for  two  months  in  the  West  Indies. 
In  one  week  she  took  eight  prizes.  She  finally  put  in 

to  St.  Pierre,  Martinique,  for  coal  and  supplies  on 
16 


220  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

November  9th  of  that  year.  The  Northern  war  ship 
Iroquois  arrived  there  five  days  later.  The  Iroquois 
waited  outside  the  harbor  for  the  Sumter  to  come  out. 
On  the  night  of  November  23d  Captain  Semmes,  of 
the  Sumter,  decided  to  make  a  dash  for  the  ocean. 
Captain  Palmer,  of  the  Iroquois,  received  a  signal 
from  the  shore  that  the  Sumter  had  started  and  was 
going  out  on  the  southern  side  of  the  wide  harbor. 
Captain  Semmes  saw  the  signal,  and  after  he  had  run 
two  miles  on  the  southern  side,  suddenly  turned,  and 
in  the  darkness  and  in  a  heavy  shower  ran  over  to  the 
northern  side  and  escaped  with  ease.  He  went  straight 
across  the  Atlantic,  taking  three  prizes  on  his  way,  and 
arrived  at  Cadiz,  Spain.  Then  he  went  to  Gibraltar, 
where  three  Northern  war  ships  found  him.  He  could 
not  escape  this  time,  and  sold  his  boat.  In  all  he  had 
taken  eighteen  prizes. 

The  South  had  no  more  boats  that  it  could  use  in 
this  work,  and  began  to  buy  or  build  vessels  in  Eng 
land  for  this  purpose.  These  vessels  were  fitted 
out  as  merchantmen,  and  were  then  taken  to  sea 
and  were  made  into  war  ships  by  placing  cannon  and 
ammunition  and  Southern  crews  on  board  of  them. 
The  first  of  these  cruisers  was  the  Florida,  built  in 
Liverpool.  She  was  taken  to  the  Bahama  Islands  as  a 
merchantman  and  there  made  into  a  war  ship.  The 
captain  of  the  Florida  sailed  for  Cuba,  and  then,  his 
crew  being  reduced  to  three  available  men  because  of 


THE  GREAT   BLOCKADE.  221 

yellow  fever  on  board,  he  started  for  Mobile.  He  came 
within  sight  of  the  port  on  September  4,  1862.  Two 
Northern  vessels  were  blockading  the  bay.  With  only 
one  man  on  deck  to  steer,  and  the  captain  himself 
sick  and  sitting  in  a  chair,  the  Florida  raised  the  Brit 
ish  flag  and  steered  straight  for  the  entrance.  The 
captains  of  the  Northern  vessels  thought  she  was  an 
English  war  ship  and  hailed  her.  No  reply  was  given, 
and  the  Northern  vessel  Oneida,  after  firing  across  the 
bow  of  the  Florida  three  times,  fired  a  broadside  at 
her,  but  did  not  hit  her.  The  Florida  could  go  four 
teen  knots  an  hour  and  the  Oneida  could  go  only 
seven,  and  therefore  the  Florida's  captain,  the  fearless 
John  N.  Maffitt,  sailed  into  Mobile  safely. 

On  January  16,  1863,  Maffitt  ran  through  the 
Northern  blockading  squadron  at  Mobile  again  and 
escaped  to  sea.  He  went  down  toward  Brazil,  and  in 
five  months  took  fourteen  prizes.  One  of  the  prizes, 
named  the  Clarence,  he  put  in  charge  of  Lieutenant 
C.  W.  Read.  That  vessel  went  off  cruising  by  herself, 
and  soon  captured  five  prizes.  The  fifth  of  these 
prizes  was  a  vessel  called  the  Tacony.  Read  burned 
the  Clarence,  and  took  the  Tacony  for  his  vessel.  Two 
weeks  later  he  caught  another  vessel  called  the  Archer. 
He  at  once  burned  the  Tacony  and  used  the  Archer  as 
his  war  ship.  Then  he  did  a  bold  thing.  He  ran 
into  the  harbor  of  Portland,  Me.,  seized  the  revenue 
cutter  Caleb  Cushing,  and  stole  out  to  sea  again  with 


222  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

her.  He  was  captured  the  next  day  by  several 
steamers  that  went  out  to  search  for  him,  and  Read's 
career  in  destroying  vessels  on  the  high  seas  was 
over. 

The   Florida,    in   the   meantime,    had    sailed    for 
France,  where  she  remained  six  months.     She  then 


Southern  steamer  Florida,  sunk  at  Hampton  Roads. 

went  to  Bahia,  Brazil,  where  she  was  found  by  the 
Northern  sloop  of  war  Wachusett.  Although  it  is 
against  the  law  of  nations  for  one  war  ship  to  fight  an 
other  in  a  neutral  port,  Captain  Collins,  of  the  Wa 
chusett,  was  afraid  that  the  Florida  would  escape,  and 
he  attacked  the  Florida  in  the  harbor  and  captured 
her.  He  did  a  great  wrong,  and  later  he  was  ordered 
to  take  the  vessel  back  to  Bahia  and  leave  her  there. 
She  sank,  however,  just  as  Collins  was  about  to  start 
from  Hampton  Roads  with  his  prize.  Brazil  had 
allowed  the  Southern  cruiser  Alabama  to  use  her 
ports  in  which  to  hide  and  from  which  she  would  steal 


THE  GREAT  BLOCKADE.  223 

out  to  capture  Northern  vessels,  but  of  course  that 
did  not  excuse  Collins's  act. 

Another  of  these  commerce  destroyers  that  was 
built  in  England  was  the  Rappahamiock.  She  went 
from  England  to  France,  but  the  French,  finding  out 
what  she  really  was,  never  allowed  her  to  leave  that 
country.  Still  another  was  the  Georgia,  which  cruised 
in  the  Atlantic  for  a  year,  but  which  took  only  eight 
prizes  in  that  time.  She  returned  to  England  and 
was  sold  to  a  merchant.  While  on  a  peaceful  cruise 
afterward  she  was  captured  by  the  Northern  war  ship 
Niagara,  and  was  held  as  a  lawful  prize. 

The  cruiser  Shenandoah  was  another  vessel  of  this 
class  that  had  a  famous  career.  She  sailed  from  Eng 
land  in  October,  1804,  and  after  being  made  into  a 
war  ship  near  the  Madeira  Islands,  took  a  few  prizes  in 
the  Atlantic  and  then  sailed  to  Melbourne,  Australia. 
She  received  a  cargo  of  coal  there,  and  enlisted  forty- 
two  men  in  her  crew,  and  then  sailed  north  straight 
to  the  Behring  Sea,  where  there  was  a  large  fleet  of 
Northern  whalers.  Altogether,  she  captured  thirty- 
six  prizes,  and  kept  at  her  work  until  June  28,  1865, 
some  time  after  the  war  ended.  The  news  of  the 
close  of  the  war  did  not  reach  the  vessel  until  that 
time.  The  Shenandoah  then  returned  to  Liverpool, 
where  she  was  given  up  to  the  English  authorities. 

The  most  famous  of  all  the  commerce  destroyers 
that  the  South  sent  out  was  the  Alabama,  under  com- 


224 


OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 


niand  of  Captain  Semmes,  who  was  in  charge  of  the 
Sumter  during  tliat  vessel's  career.  It  was  the  Ala 
bama  which  fought  the  famous  battle  with  the  Kear- 
sarge  off  the  harbor  of  Cherbourg,  France,  the  only 
sea  fight  of  the  civil  war  between  vessels  nearly  evenly 


Northern  merchantman  held  up  by  the  Southern  commerce 
destroyer  Alabama. 

matched.  The  Alabama  left  England  in  July,  1802, 
as  a  merchant  vessel,  but  was  made  into  a  war  ship  in 
the  Bahamas  in  August,  and  at  once  started  out  to 
find  Northern  ships.  Captain  Semmes  was  the  most 
successful  of  all  the  captains  engaged  in  this  work. 
He  would  cruise  in  one  region  only  about  two  months 
at  a  time  and  then  would  go  far  away,  so  that  when 
news  reached  the  North  about  him  and  a  vessel  would 
be  sent  to  find  him,  he  would  be  nowhere  near  the 


THE  GREAT  BLOCKADE.  225 

place  where  he  was  expected  to  be.  He  first  went 
to  the  West  Indies,  where  after  taking  some  prizes 
he  learned  that  the  Southern  forces  at  Galveston, 
Texas,  needed  some  help.  He  arrived  there  on  January 
11,  1863,  a  short  time  after  the  Northern  vessels  in 
that  port  had  been  destroyed  or  put  to  flight,  and  just 
after  several  more  Northern  vessels  had  been  sent  there 
to  blockade  the  port  once  more.  One  of  the  lookouts 
on  the  Northern  vessel  Brooklyn  saw  what  he  thought 
was  a  bark  about  twelve  miles  off  on  the  morning  of 
January  llth.  The  Northern  vessel  Hatteras,  which 
had  been  a  Delaware  River  steamer,  was  sent  out  to 
capture  the  bark.  The  bark  was  really  the  Alabama. 
Semmes  allowed  the  Hatteras  to  chase  him  for  twenty 
miles.  The  captain  of  the  Hatteras  finally  overtook 
him  and  asked  the  name  of  his  ship.  Semmes  said  it 
was  the  English  war  ship  Petrel,  and  while  the  captain 
of  the  Hatteras  was  sending  a  small  boat  over  to  the 
Alabama,  the  latter  swung  around  and  opened  fire  on 
the  Hatteras  and  sank  her  in  a  few  minutes.  Semmes 
saved  the  crew  of  the  Hatteras  and  took  them  away 
with  him  to  Jamaica.  The  other  Northern  vessels, 
hearing  the  firing  at  sea,  went  out  to  find  the  Hatteras, 
but  she  was  gone.  After  cruising  all  night  they 
finally  discovered  her  masts  sticking  out  of  the  water. 
Semmes  then  went  cruising  off  the  northern  coast 
of  Brazil  for  two  months,  where  he  took  many  prizes, 
and  then  he  sailed  for  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The 


THE  GREAT  BLOCKADE.  227 

people  there  were  very  cordial  to  him,  and  made  his 
stay  in  that  region  pleasant.  From  there  he  went  out 
in  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  took  several  prizes  in  the 
East  Indies.  He  went  clear  to  the  China  Sea,  and  then 
came  back  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  finally 
arrived  at  Cherbourg,  France,  on  June  11,  1864. 
During  his  long  cruise  Semrnes  took  sixty-nine  prizes, 
fifty-three  of  which  he  destroyed.  He  always  took 
the  flags  of  the  vessels  he  captured  and  placed  them  in 
a  big  bag  as  trophies.  That  bag  was  lost  when  the 
Alabama  was  sunk  by  the  Kearsarge  on  June  19, 
1864. 

The  Kearsarge  was  lying  off  the  town  of  Flushing, 
Holland,  on  Sunday,  June  12,  1864,  when  her  cap 
tain,  John  A.  Winslow,  received  a  Paris  telegram 
saying  that  the  Alabama  had  arrived  at  Cherbourg. 
Winslow  at  once  started  for  Cherbourg,  and  lay  off 
the  harbor  waiting  for  the  Alabama  to  come  out. 
Semmes  had  never  fought  a  war  ship  in  his  cruising, 
and  it  was  said  that  he  would  not  do  so  at  that  time, 
but  would  give  up  his  ship  to  France.  But  Semmes 
had  true  American  bravery,  and  he  let  it  be  known 
that  he  intended  to  fight  when  he  got  ready.  Al 
though  the  Kearsarge  was  only  fifteen  tons  larger  than 
the  Alabama,  she  had  a  crew  of  163  men  to  the  Ala 
bama's  141).  She  could  throw  366  pounds  of  metal 
from  her  seven  guns  to  the  328  pounds  of  the  Ala 
bama's  eight  guns.  Her  powder  was  in  good  condi- 


228  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

tion,  while  that  of  the  Alabama  was  not,  because  it 
had  been  on  board  for  nearly  two  years.  Her  crew 
was  eager  to  fight,  while  the  crew  of  the  Alabama 
had  been  shipped  more  for  the  purpose  of  capturing 
prizes  than  of  fighting. 

The  advantage,  therefore,  although  the  ships  were 
of  about  the  same  size,  was  with  the  Kearsarge.  Win- 
slow,  of  the  Kearsarge,  about  a  year  before  had  taken 
anchor  chains  and  had  strung  them  alongside  his  ves 
sel  at  the  water  line.  Then  he  planked  them  over 
and  painted  the  wood  so  that  the  crude  armor  that  the 
anchor  chains  made  did  not  show.  This  method  of 
using  anchor  chains  had  been  tried  before  during  the 
war,  but  Semmes  said  that  if  he  had  known  the  Kear 
sarge  was  so  protected  he  would  not  have  fought  her 
as  an  equal.  Only  two  shots,  however,  hit  the  armor, 
and  so  the  protection  really  amounted  to  very  little. 

Day  after  day  the  Kearsarge  sailed  up  and  down 
off  the  harbor  of  Cherbourg,  waiting  for  the  Alabama. 
Sunday  morning,  June  19th,  was  beautiful  with  sun 
shine,  and  the  Kearsarge  was  made  snug  and  clean  and 
her  brass  work  was  polished  highly  before  the  hour 
for  religious  services  had  come.  It  was  exactly  at 
10.20  o'clock,  when  the  ship's  bell  was  tolling  for 
church,  that  the  Alabama  was  seen  coming  out  of 
the  harbor.  Captain  Winslow  stood  with  his  prayer 
book  in  hand,  and  gave  orders  to  clear  for  action.  A 
French  war  ship  escorted  the  Alabama  three  miles  out 


THE  GREAT  BLOCKADE.  229 

of  the  harbor,  so  as  to  be  sure  that  the  fighting  would 
take  place  on  the  ocean  beyond  the  limit  of  French 
waters.  An  English  yacht  called  the  Deerhound  also 
came  out  to  see  the  fight. 

Winslow  took  the  Kearsarge  four  miles  farther  out 
to  sea  and  then  turned  around  and  waited  for  the  Ala 
bama.  The  Alabama  began  firing  when  she  was 
eighteen  hundred  yards  from  the  Kearsarge.  She  fired 
three  broadsides  before  Captain  Winslow  replied. 
The  vessels  were  then  only  nine  hundred  yards  apart. 
Winslow  sent  word  to  his  gunners  to  make  every  shot 
count.  The  two  vessels  began  swinging  about  in  a 
circle.  Seven  times  they  made  a  complete  turn.  The 
Alabama  fired  three  hundred  and  seventy  shots,  of 
which  only  twenty-eight  hit  the  Kearsarge.  The  Kear 
sarge  fired  only  one  hundred  and  seventy-three  shots, 
nearly  all  of  which  struck  the  Alabama.  It  was  the 
old  story  over  again  of  good  shooting.  At  noon  Semmes 
saw  that  the  Alabama  was  about  to  sink  and  hauled 
down  his  flag.  While  the  Koarsarge's  boats  were  hur 
rying  to  rescue  those  of  the  Alabama's  crew  that  were 
alive,  the  vessel  lurched  and  sank,  her  bow  being  lifted 
high  out  of  the  water  as  she  went  down.  The  yacht 
Deerhound  rescued  forty-two  men,  including  Semmes, 
and  took  them  to  England.  Between  thirty  and  forty 
men  of  the  Alabama  were  killed  or  drowned;  the 
Kearsarge  had  three  men  wounded,  one  of  whom  died. 

Thus  ended  one  of  the  greatest  duels  on  the  high 


230  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

seas  in  history.  The  people  of  the  North,  after  that, 
always  had  a  deep  affection  for  the  Kearsarge,  and  it 
is  probable  that  she  would  always  have  been  preserved 
in  the  navy.  Unfortunately,  she  was  wrecked,  011 
February  2,  1894,  on  lloncador  Reef,  off  the  coast  of 
Nicaragua,  while  on  a  trip  to  Central  America.  The 
vessel  could  not  be  saved,  and  little  by  little  went  to 
pieces.  It  was  always  the  custom  on  board  the  Kear- 
sarge  to  celebrate  June  19th  as  a  special  holiday.  On 
these  occasions  the  crew  always  met  in  a  body  and  sang 
a  song  known  as  the  Kearsarge  Song.  That  song  was 
sung  for  the  last  time  on  the  ship's  holiday,  June  19, 
1893. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

DEWEY'S  VICTORY  AT  MANILA. 

WHEN  the  civil  war  ended  the  United  States  had 
so  many  war  ships  that,  as  one  looked  at  the  list,  it 
seemed  as  if  this  country  was  one  of  the  great  naval 
powers  in  the  world;  but  when  the  Government  had 
sold  the  boats  that  were  no  longer  useful,  the  navy 
was  found  to  be  small.  For  more  than  fifteen  years 
no  new  boats  were  built,  and  by  1880  the  navy  came 
to  be  known  as  something  of  a  laughingstock.  There 
were  splendid  men  in  it,  but  the  vessels  were  almost 
useless.  In  1883,  however,  the  United  States  made  a 
new  start  in  naval  affairs,  and  four  modern  war  ships 
were  launched.  Year  by  year  new  ships  were  added, 
although  it  was  hard  work  to  get  the  money  for  them 
from  Congress.  After  a  time  the  country  began  to 
build  battle  ships.  By  the  year  1894  the  United  States 
was  the  fifth  or  sixth  naval  power  in  the  world,  and  it 
began  to  be  known  that  our  ships,  even  if  they  were 
few  in  number,  were  the  best  of  the  kind  in  the  world. 
The  other  nations  began  to  respect  the  United  States 

navy  once  more. 

231 


232 


OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME   OF   WAR. 


It  was  not  until  1898,  when  the  war  with  Spain 
came,  that  the  navy  was  called  upon  once  more  to 
show  its  valor  in  fighting.  In  1873  the  United  States 
came  very  near  having  a  war  with  Spain.  In  1888 
there  was  danger  of  trouble  with  Germany  over  the 
Samoan  Islands,  arid  Commander  Richard  P.  Leary, 


The  old  and  the  new,  showing  the  type  of  war-ship  employed 
during  the  first  part  of  the  Civil  War  with  that  now  in  use. 
The  modern  vessel,  the  cruiser  Maine  ;  the  old  type,  the 
Constitution. 

of  the  United  States  navy,  did  what  few  commanders 
of  the  navy  have  done  or  have  ever  had  a  chance  to  do. 
He  cleared  his  ship,  the  Adams,  for  action,  and  ran 
in  between  the  German  war  ship  Adler  and  the  shore, 
just  as  the  Adler  was  about  to  fire  on  some  natives  who 
were  on  the  property  of  a  United  States  citizen.  Had 
the  German  ship  fired  a  single  gun  that  day  Leary 


DEWEY'S  VICTORY  AT  MANILA.  233 

would  have  fired  into  her,  and  war  with  Germany 
might  have  followed.  Leary  could  not  cable  home, 
and  he  stood  up  bravely  and  alone  for  his  coun 
try's  interests.  He  was  thanked  in  person  by  the 
President,  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  Secretary 
of  the  ^avy  when  he  returned  from  Samoa,  but  no 
official  notice  was  ever  taken  of  his  bold  stand  for  his 
country.  Kot  even  a  scrap  of  paper  was  given  to 
Leary  to  show  that  his  acts  were  approved.  His  native 
State,  Maryland,  however,  presented  him  with  a  gold 
watch,  and  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  through 
the  newspapers,  declared  Leary  to  be  one  of  the 
heroes  of  the  navy,  and  his  reward  will  be  their  ap 
proval  in  history. 

In  1894  there  was  a  revolution  in  Brazil.  The 
men  of  the  Brazilian  navy  were  the  rebels.  They  re 
fused  to  allow  American  vessels  to  enter  the  harbor  of 
Rio  de  Janeiro.  The  United  States  sent  a  squadron 
of  war  ships  down  there,  and  on  January  30,  1894, 
these  ships  cleared  for  action  to  fight  the  Brazilian 
rebels.  The  Brazilians  yielded,  however,  and  allowed 
the  United  States  war  ships  to  take  American  vessels 
up  the  harbor.  Three  years  before  this  there  was 
danger  of  war  between  the  United  States  and  Chili, 
because  some  of  the  crew  of  the  cruiser  Baltimore 
were  assaulted  in  the  streets  of  Valparaiso,  but  that 
cloud  soon  passed  away,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
Cuban  revolution  came  that  there  was  prospect  that 


234  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

the  United  States  navy  would  be  used  in  war  once 
more. 

Spain  found  that  she  could  not  conquer  the  Cubans 
by  war,  and  the  cruel  Captain-General  Weyler  began 
to  try  to  starve  all  those  who  were  not  fighting  in  the 
field.  He  made  the  old  and  young,  the  sick  and  in 
firm,  the  women  and  children,  go  into  the  cities,  where 
little  by  little  they  were  starved.  The  people  of  the 
United  States  were  enraged.  Citizens  of  the  United 
States  in  Havana  and  other  Cuban  cities  were  afraid 
for  their  lives  and  property.  Spain  recalled  Weyler, 
but  kept  up  the  starvation,  and  finally  the  United 
States  sent  the  battle  ship  Maine  to  Havana  to  protect 
its  own  citizens  in  case  of  trouble.  The  Maine  was 
anchored  over  a  secret  mine  or  torpedo  of  some 
kind,  and  on  the  night  of  February  15,  1898,  some 
one  in  control  of  the  wires  leading  to  the  mine  turned 
on  the  electricity  and  blew  up  the  splendid  battle  ship. 
More  than  two  hundred  and  sixty  lives  were  lost  on 
board.  A  great  wave  of  anger  passed  over  the  United 
States,  and  while  it  could  not  be  proved  at  that  time 
that  the  Spaniards  blew  up  the  ship,  Congress  decided 
that  Spain  must  quit  Cuba  forever,  and  this  brought 
on  war  between  that  country  and  the  United  States. 

The  war  began  on  April  21st.  Before  that  time 
the  United  States  had  been  gathering  its  fleet  in  the 
Atlantic  at  Key  West,  and  its  fleet  in  the  Pacific  at 
Hong  Kong,  the  English  possession  in  China.  The 


DEWEY'S  VICTORY  AT  MANILA.  235 

Navy  Department  made  swift  and  sure  preparation 
for  war.  When  it  came  the  ships  were  ready  to  tight. 
A  blockade  was  put  in  force  at  once  oft'  Havana,  and 
the  United  States  vessels  began  to  capture  prizes. 


The  wreck  of  the  Maine. 

The  Pacific;  squadron  was  in  command  of  Com 
modore  (leorge  Dewey.  He  had  made  every  prepara 
tion  for  war,  and  soon  orders  came  for  him  to  go  to 
Manila,  in  the  Philippines,  Spain's  great  island  pos 
sessions  in  the  Pacific,  to  fight  a  Spanish  fleet.  Eng 
land  notified  him  that  he  must  leave  Hong  Kong,  and 
he  set  out  with  his  fleet  for  Mirs  Bay,  about  twenty 
miles  away.  His  orders  were  "to  capture  or  destroy 
the  Spanish  fleet  in  the  Philippines."  He  had  seven 
war  ships  with  him  and  two  supply  boats.  The  largest 
of  the  war  ships  was  the  Olyrnpia,  the  flagship,  a  fine, 
new  armored  cruiser.  The  other  vessels  of  his  fleet 

were  the  Baltimore,  Boston,  Raleigh,  Concord,  Petrel, 

17 


236  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

and  McCulloch.  The  McCulloch  was  really  a  revenue 
cutter.  The  sailors  on  English  war  ships  cheered 
the  fleet  as  it  left  Hong  Kong,  and  shouted  that 
the  United  States  vessels  would  surely  win.  Op 
posed  to  Dewey  was  the  Spanish  fleet  of  eleven  cruisers 
and  gunboats  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Monto- 
jo.  Most  of  these  vessels  were  old  and  of  wood. 
Dewey's  fleet  was  stronger,  but  the  Spaniards  had  the 
help  of  splendidly  armed  forts  in  Manila  Bay,  where 
the  fight  took  place,  and  really  were  more  than  a 
match  in  guns  for  the  Americans. 

Dewey  had  much  at  stake.  He  was  nearly  eight 
thousand  miles  away  from  his  nearest  home  port.  If 
he  was  beaten,  or  only  partly  beaten,  there  was  no 
place  for  him  to  go  after  the  fight.  He  could  not  get 
coal  to  start  away,  and  of  course  could  not  obtain  food. 
He  simply  had  to  win,  or  die  in  the  attempt.  No  such 
work  was  ever  put  upon  a  naval  officer  in  command 
of  a  fleet.  He  knew  what  failure  meant,  and  started 
out  from  Mirs  Bay  on  April  27,  bound  to  win  a  vic 
tory.  On  April  30th  he  approached  the  Philippine 
Islands.  ISTot  far  from  Manila  Bay  is  Subig  Bay. 
Dewey  sent  the  Concord  and  Boston  ahead  to  see  if 
the  Spanish  fleet  was  there.  He  hurried  the  Balti 
more  after  the  Boston  and  Concord,  and  found  that 
the  enemy  was  not  in  the  bay.  He  then  called  all  his 
captains  on  the  flagship  and  gave  orders  for  the  work 
the  next  day.  That  night  his  fleet  arrived  just  before 


238  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

midnight  at  the  entrance  to  Manila  Bay.  It  is  one  of 
the  finest  harbors  in  the  world.  It  is  one  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  in  circumference,  and  one  of  the  en 
trances  to  the  bay  is  five  miles  wide.  All  lights  on  the 
United  States  ships  were  put  out,  except  one  at  the 
stern  of  each  vessel,  which  showed  a  vessel  follow 
ing  how  to  steer.  Dewey  led  the  way,  and  the  ships 
crept  in  past  the  forts  on  Corregidor  Island.  The 
little  McCulloch  was  last  in  the  line.  The  coal  she 
was  burning  made  a  blaze,  and  three  shots  were  fired 
from  a  battery  on  the  island  at  the  ships.  The  Boston 
and  Concord  fired  back,  but  Dewey  gave  orders  at 
once  to  cease  firing.  ~No  damage  was  done  on  either 
side. 

The  American  sailors  slept  on  the  decks  beside 
their  guns  while  the  ships  continued  up  the  bay  toward 
Manila.  When  daylight  began  to  appear  the  men 
were  aroused  and  a  light  breakfast  was  given  to  them. 
Dewey  expected  to  find  the  Spanish  fleet  drawn  up 
in  front  of  the  city  of  Manila,  but  it  was  not  there. 
He  turned  and  went  back  toward  the  entrance  to  the 
harbor  along  the  east  side  of  the  bay  to  Cavite,  where 
there  was  a  naval  arsenal,  several  forts  on  the  main 
bay  and  also  on  a  small  bay  called  Baker  Bay,  which 
was  formed  by  a  point  of  land  jutting  out  toward  the 
city  of  Manila.  Dewey  had  left  the  McCulloch  and 
his  two  supply  boats  out  in  the  middle  of  Manila  Bay 
while  he  went  hunting  for  the  Spanish  fleet.  It  was 


240  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

5.15  A.  M.,  on  Sunday,  May  1,  just  as  he  was  leaving 
the  water  front  of  Manila,  that  a  shot  was  fired  from 
that  city  at  the  American  fleet.  Dewey  by  this  time 
had  discovered  the  Spanish  vessels  drawn  up  under 
the  forts  at  Cavite.  The  Spaniards  had  no  doubt  that 
they  would  win.  So  careless  were  they  that,  instead 
of  preparing  their  ships  for  fighting,  most  of  the 
officers  the  night  before  had  attended  a  ball  in  Manila. 
Dewey's  vessels  were  expected,  and  the  next  morning 
all  the  Spanish  officers  were  on  hand  to  fight.  They 
saw  Dewey's  vessels  bearing  down  on  them,  and,  with 
the  Cavite  forts  to  help  them,  all  the  ships  began 
to  shoot  long  before  Dewey  was  in  range.  The  Span 
ish  ships  were  in  a  half  circle  at  the  entrance  to  Baker 
Bay.  The  American  ships  were  in  a  line  with  the 
Olympia  leading;  then  came  the  Baltimore,  Raleigh, 
Concord,  Petrel,  and  Boston. 

It  was  exactly  at  5.35  o'clock  in  the  morning  when 
Dewey,  who  was  standing  on  the  bridge  of  the  Olym 
pia,  turned  to  Captain  Gridley,  of  the  flagship,  and 
said  quietly: 

"  You  may  begin,  Gridley,  whenever  you  wish." 
At  once  the  eight-inch  guns  of  the  Olympia 
roared,  and  that  was  a  signal  for  the  other  vessels  of 
the  American  fleet  to  begin  firing.  Every  vessel  of 
the  Spanish  fleet  was  already  in  action,  and  the  great 
guns  of  the  forts  at  Cavite  added  to  the  noise.  It 
was  a  beautiful  morning,  but  very  hot.  The  Ameri- 


DEWEY'S   VICTORY  AT  MANILA. 

cans  expected  that  they  would  be  damaged  severely 
and  many  men  would  be  killed,  and  they  went  at  their 
work  furiously.  Two  mines  were  exploded  in  front  of 
the  Olympia  as  that  vessel  led  the  way  past  the  Span 
ish  fleet  and  forts,  but  Dewey,  who  had  been  on  Far- 
ragut's  flagship  in  the  great  fight  in  Mobile  Bay  when 
Farragut  paid  no  attention  to  torpedoes  and  went 
ahead,  followed  the  great  admiral's  example  and  con 
tinued  to  lead  the  way. 

The  first  shot  from  the  Spaniards  showed  that  they 
were  poor  marksmen.  The  men  on  the  American  fleet 
could  see  that  their  own  guns  were  doing  great  damage 
to  the  Spaniards.  No  attention  was  paid  to  the  forts 
at  Cavite.  The  American  ships  fought  the  Spanish 
ships  alone.  After  the  American  vessels  had  passed 
the  Spanish  fleet,  they  swung  about  and  went  back. 
The  form  of  their  path  was  like  a  figure  eight.  The 
fighting  was  just  as  furious  on  the  return  trip,  and 
when  Dewey  turned  to  begin  another  eight  it  was  seen 
that  the  Spaniards  were  about  to  try  something  new. 
The  Spanish  flagship,  Reina  Cristina,  left  the  rest  of 
the  fleet,  and  boldly  steamed  out  to  meet  the  Olympia. 
Every  gun  on  the  Olympia  was  trained  against  her; 
men  were  shot  down  in  droves  on  her  decks,  and  she 
turned  about  to  flee.  AS  she  turned,  an  eight-inch 
shell  from  the  Olympia  struck  the  stern  of  the  ship 
and  passed  clear  through  to  the  bow.  That  shot  ex 
ploded  the  boilers  and  killed  more  than  sixty  men, 


DEWEY'S   VICTORY  AT  MANILA.  243 

one  of  whom  was  the  captain.  The  Reina  Cristina  at 
once  was  set  on  fire  by  the  shot,  and  Admiral  Montojo 
had  to  leave  the  ship  and  go  to  another,  the  Isla  de 
Cuba. 

Dewey  was  now  on  the  return  part  of  his  second 
eight.  He  met  a  new  difficulty.  Two  torpedo  boats 
were  seen  to  start  from  under  the  forts  at  Cavite  and 
dart  toward  the  Olympia.  When  they  were  three 
miles  away,  Dewey's  men  began  to  shoot  at  them  with 
the  big  guns,  but  could  not  hit  them  because  they  were 
so  small.  On  they  came  with  great  speed.  This  was 
the  most  trying  part  of  the  day.  The  American  gun 
ners  watched  them  eagerly.  When  they  were  within 
eight  hundred  yards  of  the  Olympia  Dewey  gave  the 
word  for  the  small  guns  on  his  ship  to  be  turned  against 
them.  A  terrible  rain  of  steel  was  poured  on  them. 
The  torpedo  boat  in  the  lead  stopped  suddenly,  then 
went  on  a  few  yards,  and  finally  a  black  puff  of  smoke 
burst  from  her  decks.  The  American  gunners  had 
shot  into  her  boilers  and  she  blew  up  and  sank  at 
once.  The  other  torpedo  boat  turned  and  ran  to  shore. 
She  reached  the  beach  in  a  sinking  condition. 

For  the  fifth  time  Dewey  was  soon  passing  the 
enemy.  Xo  one  had  been  killed  on  his  own  ship,  but 
he  did  not  know  how  the  other  vessels  had  fared.  His 
own  supply  of  ammunition  was  getting  low,  and  he 
signaled  to  the  vessels  to  go  out  in  the  middle  of  the 
bay  after  they  had  passed  the  Spanish  fleet  and  fort. 


Admiral. 


Rear-Admiral. 


Captain. 


Lieutenant-Commander. 


Lieutenant — Junior  Grade. 


Commander. 


Lieutenant. 


Ensign. 


Surgeon.  Paymaster. 

SHOULPER  STRAPS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  NAVY. 


DEWEY'S  VICTORY   AT  MANILA.  245 

He  saw  that  several  of  the  Spanish  vessels  were  on 
tire,  and  he  decided  to  give  his  men  a  rest  and  time 
to  have  breakfast  before  beginning  again.  It  was 
then  7.45  A.  M.  The  Spaniards  thought  the  Ameri 
cans  were  beaten  and  had  retired.  Dewey  was  not  that 
kind  of  a  man.  He  called  at  once  for  reports  as  to  the 
loss  of  life.  Every  captain  reported  that  no  men  had 
been  killed;  the  Baltimore  reported  that  six  men  had 
been  wounded  slightly.  Cheer  upon  cheer  rang  from 
the  American  ships  when  they  heard  this  news,  and 
then  the  men  ate  a  cold  breakfast.  Most  of  them  then 
stretched  themselves  out  to  rest  before  more  work 
began. 

Dewey  called  his  captains  on  his  flagship  to  con 
sult  as  to  the  rest  of  the  battle.  Like  the  great  fight 
in  Mobile  Bay,  this  fight  was  to  have  two  parts.  It 
was  decided  to  take  the  American  ships  close  to  the 
enemy,  and  to  remain  there  while  the  finishing  work 
was  done.  At  10.45  o'clock  Dewey  ordered  the  Balti 
more  to  go  at  full  speed  toward  the  forts  and  ships,  and 
to  fire  as  fast  as  possible  at  them.  She  went  close  to 
the  enemy  and  stopped  soon  after  she  began  to  shoot. 
Twenty  minutes  later  the  Olympia  came  up  and  took 
the  Baltimore's  place,  the  Baltimore  moving  down  the 
line  quite  a  distance.  Then  the  Raleigh  and  the  Bos 
ton  took  the  places  of  the  Olympia  and  the  Baltimore, 
and  continued  the  firing.  The  little  Petrel  and  the 
Concord  ran  around  to  the  entrance  of  Baker  Bay  and 


246  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

kept  up  a  sharp  fight.  The  Petrel  is  one  of  the  small 
est  vessels  in  the  United  States  navy,  but  her  work  at 
this  time  was  so  bold  and  brilliant  that  the  sailors  of 
the  American  fleet  called  her  at  once  "  the  baby  battle 
ship."  One  after  another  the  Spanish  vessels  began 
to  burn  or  sink,  and  little  by  little  the  guns'  on  the 
forts,  which  were  attacked  in  this  second  fight,  ceased 
to  fire.  At  12.45  o'clock  the  Petrel  and  Boston  and 
Raleigh  were  the  only  American  ships  firing  at  the 
enemy,  and  exactly  at  1.05  p.  M.  the  Spanish  flag  was 
lowered  at  Cavite,  and  the  fight  was  over. 

No  such  naval  fight  was  ever  known  before. 
Three  of  the  Spanish  vessels  were  sunk  and  eight  were 
burned.  'Not  one  escaped.  The  wreckage  was  awful. 
It  is  not  known  how  many  men  on  the  Spanish  fleet 
and  in  the  forts  were  killed,  but  it  is  probable  that 
more  than  five  hundred  were  killed  on  the  ships  and 
three  hundred  on  the  land.  Nearly  fifteen  hundred 
of  the  Spaniards  were  also  wounded,  many  of  whom 
died.  The  only  ship  of  the  American  fleet  to  receive 
any  damage  worthy  of  note  was  the  Baltimore,  which 
was  hit  by  a  4.7-inch  shell,  that  entered  her  side  and 
injured  six  of  the  crew.  Several  of  the  American 
officers  had  narrow  escapes.  Among  these  was  Com 
modore  Dewey.  He  stood  on  the  bridge  of  the  Olym- 
pia  during  the  entire  fight,  and  a  shot  passed  a  few 
feet  over  his  head  and  the  heads  of  those  with  him, 
and  cut  off  the  signal  halyards.  The  Boston's 


Lieut.  Hobson.  Admiral  Dewey.  Captain  Sigsbee. 

Rear-Admiral  Sampson.  Rear-Admiral  Schley. 

Naval  heroes  of  the  war  with  Spain. 


248  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

boats,  with  the  exception  of  one,  were  destroyed  from 
the  blast  of  her  own  guns.  A  ten-inch  shell  from  the 
Spanish  forts  struck  the  water  close  to  the  bow  of 
the  Olympia  and  bounded  clear  over  the  vessel.  In 
all  the  Olympia  was  hit  thirteen  times:  three  times 
in  the  hull,  and  the  rest  in  the  rigging.  Most 
of  the  other  American  vessels  had  some  scars  in  the 
rigging,  but  the  damage  done  to  them  amounted  to 
almost  nothing. 

When  the  men  on  the  American  fleet  saw  that  the 
fight  was  over  for  good,  they  danced  and  sang  and 
wept.  Many  of  them  got  down  on  their  knees  on 
deck  and  thanked  God  for  bringing  every  man  in  the 
fleet  through  the  battle  safely.  Dewey  turned  to  his 

staff  and  said : 

j 

"  I  have  the  finest  lot  of  men  that  ever  stepped  on 
shipboard,  and  their  hearts  are  as  stout  as  their  ships." 

It  was  not  until  a  week  later  that  the  details  of  the 
wonderful  victory  reached  the  United  States.  Dewey's 
name  was  upon  millions  of  lips.  All  over  the  country 
there  was  great  rejoicing.  The  President  made  Dewey 
rear  admiral,  and  Congress  sent  him  and  his  men  a 
vote  of  thanks.  ~Not  only  was  his  victory  unlike  any 
thing  in  history,  but  it  was  said  that  such  a  triumph 
would  never  be  repeated.  No  one  could  foresee  that 
two  months  later  the  United  States  navy  would  win 
a  victory  off  the  coast  of  Cuba  almost  exactly  like 
the  one  Dewey  had  won  in  Manila  Bay. 


CHAPTEK  XIV. 

THE    NAVAL    BATTLE    OF    JULY    3,    NEAR    SANTIAGO. 

Soox  after  the  war  with  Spain  began,  it  was 
thought  probable  that  there  would  be  a  great  naval 
fight  somewhere  near  Cuba's  coast.  Spain's  navy 
seemed  almost  as  strong  as  that  of  the  United  States. 
It  had  several  very  fast  torpedo  boat  destroyers,  a  class 
of  vessels  which  the  United  States  did  not  own,  and 
four  armored  cruisers  ready  for  fighting,  which  were 
probably  the  best  of  the  kind  in  the  world.  They  were 
really  fast  battle  ships.  The  United  States  had  on  the 
Atlantic  coast  five  battle  ships,  after  the  Oregon  had 
been  sent  around  South  America  from  San  Francisco 
on  a  wonderful  trip,  several  monitors,  two  armored 
cruisers  and  a  dozen  or  more  unarmored  cruisers,  be 
sides  fully  fifty  yachts  and  merchant  vessels  which 
had  been  made  into  war  ships,  to  meet  the  Spanish 
fleet.  Spain  sent  her  armored  cruisers  and  several  fast 
torpedo  boats  to  the  Cape  Verde  Islands,  and  they 
were  there  for  some  time  after  war  had  been  declared. 
Portugal  finally  told  Spain  that  her  vessels  must  leave 

there,  arid  on  April  29th  they  started.     JSTo  one  in  the 

249 


; 


The  Cuban  navy;  the  only  vessel  owned  by  the  Cubans. 


NAVAL  BATTLE  OF  JULY  3,  NEAR  SANTIAGO.  251 

United  States  knew  exactly  where  they  were  going. 
Some  said  they  would  return  to  Spain,  and  others  said 
that  they  were  bound  for  Havana.  Still  others  feared 
that  they  were  about  to  attack  the  New  England  coast. 
The  last  that  was  seen  of  them,  after  they  left  the  Cape 
Verde  Islands,  showed  that  they  were  headed  in  a 
westerly  direction,  as  if  to  cross  the  Atlantic. 

The  United  States  had  the  larger  part  of  its  navy 
011  the  Atlantic  at  Key  "West  and  on  the  blockade  off 
Havana  under  the  command  of  Acting- Admiral 
Sampson.  What  was  known  as  a  "  flying  squadron  " 
was  held  in  Hampton  Roads  under  command  of  Com 
modore  Schley.  It  was  to  dash  out  and  attack  the 
Spanish  fleet  in  case  it  should  appear  off  the  north 
Atlantic  coast.  A  patrol  of  war  ships  was  kept  up 
from  Maine  to  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  all  the  chief  har 
bors  of  the  coast  were  protected  by  mines.  All  the 
forts  along  the  Atlantic  were  also  strengthened. 

The  first  engagement  in  which  the  ships  of  the 
United  States  took  part  in  the  war  was  on  April  27, 
1898,  when  Admiral  Sampson,  on  the  Xew  York, 
with  two  smaller  vessels  bombarded  the  forts  at  Matan- 
zas  on  the  north  side  of  Cuba.  The  forts  were  dam 
aged  slightly,  but  the  ships  were  not  damaged  at  all. 
On  May  llth  the  torpedo  boat  Winslow  and  the 
revenue  cutter  Hudson  ran  into  the  harbor  at  Car 
denas  and  enaged  the  forts  there.  Two  Spanish  gun 
boats  were  hidden  in  the  bay  and  began  to  fire  on  the 
18 


252  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

Winslow,  whose  exact  range  they  had.  The  Winslow 
was 'disabled  quickly,  and  Ensign  Worth  Bagley  and 
several  of  the  crew  were  killed.  Bagley  was  the  first 
and  only  naval  officer  to  be  killed  in  battle  in  this 
war.  The  revenue  cutter  Hudson  went  to  the  assist 
ance  of  the  Winslow,  and  under  a  furious  fire,  during 
which  the  United  States  sailors  showed  great  bravery, 
towed  the  Winslow  out  of  the  harbor. 

The  Cape  Yerde  fleet  from  Spain  had  not  been 
sighted,  and  a  few  days  before  Bagley  was  killed  Ad 
miral  Sampson  ran  along  the  coast  of  Cuba  eastward 
to  Porto  Rico,  to  see  if  the  Spanish  ships  had  arrived 
there.  For  several  hours  on  the  morning  of  May  12th 
he  bombarded  San  Juan,  the  chief  port  of  the  island, 
and  then,  finding  no  Spanish  war  ships,  turned  about 
and  started  for  Key  West  again.  On  the  very  day 
that  Sampson  bombarded  San  Juan  the  Spanish  ships, 
under  command  of  Admiral  Cervera,  reached  the 
island  of  Martinique,  in  the  West  Indies.  At  last 
the  United  States  had  learned  where  the  Spanish  ships 
were.  The  next  day,  May  13th,  Commodore  Schley 
with  his  flying  squadron  started  south  from  Hampton 
Eoads  to  try  to  find  Cervera.  He  was  ordered  to  stop 
at  Key  West  and  get  the  latest  news.  On  May  15th 
it  was  learned  that  Cervera  and  his  fleet  were  at  Cura- 
(jao,  in  the  Caribbean  Sea.  The  Spanish  vessels  only 
stayed  two  days  and  disappeared  again.  Meantime 
Sampson  and  Schley  had  met  at  Key  West,  and  Samp- 


NAVAL  BATTLE  OF  JULY  3,  NEAR  SANTIAGO.  253 

son  started  out  along  the  north  coast  of  Cuba,  and 
Schley  went  along  the  south  coast  in  the  hope  of 
catching  Cervera.  On  May  20th  word  reached  the 
United  States  that  Cervera  had  slipped  into  the  har 
bor  at  Santiago.  It  was  a  harbor  guarded  by  moun 
tains  and  great  forts,  and  had  a  very  narrow  entrance, 
so  that  it  would  be  almost  impossible  for  an  enemy's 
licet  to  enter. 

Schley  went  slowly  along  the  south  coast  and 
stopped  several  days  off  Cienfuegos,  where  he  thought 
the  Spanish  vessels  might  be  in  hiding,  and  finding  out 
that  they  were  not  there,  started  for  Santiago.  He 
moved  very  carefully,  and  it  was  not  until  May  29th 
that  he  arrived  off  Santiago,  and  in  a  day  or  two  made 
sure  that  the  Spanish  fleet  was  there.  Just  before  he 
reached  Santiago  he  turned  back  for  Key  West,  so  as 
to  coal  his  ships.  He  was  much  blamed  for  this  after 
ward.  The  sea  became  smooth  soon  after  he  turned 
about,  and  his  ships  were  coaled  from  a  supply  vessel. 
He  then  Avent  at  once  to  Santiago.  He  blockaded  the 
harbor,  and  on  June  3d  bombarded  the  forts  to  learn 
how  strong  they  were  and  where  their  guns  were 
placed. 

Sampson  soon  joined  Schley,  and  in  a  few  days 
about  seventy-five  vessels  of  various  kinds  of  the 
United  States  were  stationed  off  Santiago.  The  fight 
ing  vessels  were  in  a  semicircle,  from  three  to  five 
miles  away  from  the  entrance  to  the  harbor.  Samp- 


NAVAL  BATTLE  OF  TULY  3,  NEAR  SANTIAGO.     255 

son  soon  seized  the  harbor  of  Guantanamo,  as  a  port  of 
refuge  where  he  might  coal  his  ships  and  send  some  of 
them  in  case  tornadoes  should  sweep  the  coast.  An 
effort  had  also  been  made  to  cut  the  cables  leading 
from  Cuba,  so  that  no  messages  could  be  received  from 
or  sent  to  Spain,  and  in  this  work, several  men  on  some 
of  the  smaller  ships  had  been  killed.  All  who  had 
been  engaged  in  the  work  had  shown  great  brav 
ery.  Sampson  bombarded  the  forts  at  Santiago  and 
at  other  places  near  by  on  the  coast  from  time  to 
time,  and  kept  a  constant  watch  upon  the  narrow 
entrance  to  the  harbor,  day  and  night,  lest  the  Span 
ish  ships  should  come  out  and  fight  him  or  try  to 
run  away.  An  army  corps  under  General  Shafter 
had  been  sent  down,  and  Sampson  had  assisted  in  land 
ing  the  troops  about  twenty  miles  east  of  Santiago; 
then  he  returned  to  the  watch  with  most  of  his  ships 
off  the  port  again.  It  was  hard,  hot,  and  nervous  work. 
It  was  feared  that  during  a  fog  or  a  storm  Cervera 
might  come  out  and  sail  through  the  fleet  with  his 
fast  ships  and  escape  to  Havana,  where  he  really 
wanted  to  go.  It  was  also  feared  that  the  Spanish  tor 
pedo  boats  might  steal  out  in  the  darkness  and  do  great 
damage  to  the  fleet. 

Finally  a  plan  was  adopted  which  Lieutenant  Rich 
mond  Pearson  Hobson  had  formed,  to  sink  a  vessel 
in  the  narrow  entrance  to  Santiago  harbor,  and  thus 
make  sure  that  Cervera  could  not  get  out.  It  was  a 


256  *    OtJfc  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

daring  plan,  and  it  made  Hobson,  who  with  seven  others 
carried  it  out,  a  national  hero,  such  as  Gushing  became 
through  his  exploits  in  the  civil  war.  Hobson  took  the 
steamship  Merrimac,  which  had  been  loaded  with 
coal  for  the  United  States  fleet,  and  stripped  her  of 
movable  things  and  most  of  the  cargo.  He  had  tor 
pedoes  attached  to  the  vessel,  and  early  on  the  morn 
ing  of  June  3d  started  on  his  work.  Daylight  was  ap 
proaching,  and  Admiral  Sampson  recalled  him.  He 
started  the  next  morning  about  three  o'clock.  Two 
men  were  in  the  engine  room  to  run  the  engine,  and 
the  others  were  detailed  to  assist  Hobson  on  deck,  in 
steering,  in  exploding  the  torpedoes  placed  along  the 
vessel's  side,  and  in  dropping  the  anchors  fore  and  aft. 
In  the  darkness  they  stole  away  from  the  American 
fleet,  and  they  were  almost  inside  the  harbor  before 
they  were  seen.  All  of  Hobson's  men  on  deck,  except 
the  steersman,  were  lying  flat,  and  had  orders  not  to 
move  in  case  they  were  wounded.  Almost  every  man 
on  the  American  fleet  had  volunteered  to  go  with  Hob- 
son  on  this  trip,  which  seemed  almost  certain  death. 

There  were  no  lights,  of  course,  on  the  Merrimac. 
Soon  a  rocket  shot  up  from  Morro  Castle,  the  chief 
fort  at  the  entrance  of  the  bay,  and  almost  at  once  the 
roar  of  big  and  little  guns  was  heard  by  those  on  the 
American  fleet.  It  was  a  furious  storm  of  flashes  from 
Spanish  guns,  and  roars  like  thunder  peals.  It  lasted 
for  nearly  an  hour  and  then  ceased.  Daylight  had 


NAVAL  BATTLE  OF  JULY  3,  NEAR  SANTIAGO.     257 

come,  and  a  small  launch  from  the  New  York,  under 
Ensign  Powell's  command,  hovered  about  the  en 
trance  to  the  harbor  under  fire,  in  the  hope  that  Hob- 
son  and  his  companions  had  escaped  in  a  small  boat, 
and  that  the  launch  could  rescue  them.  Powell  came 
back  finally,  and  said  that  he  could  see  nothing  of 
Hobson  and  his  men.  Through  their  glasses  the 
officers  of  the  American  fleet  could  see  that  the  Merri- 
mac  had  been  sunk  in  the  channel,  and  all  thought 
that  Hobson  and  his  crew  must  have  been  killed. 
Late  that  afternoon,  however,  a  small  boat  was  seen 
coming  out  of  Santiago  harbor  under  a  flag  of  truce. 
A  Spanish  naval  officer  was  on  board  and  he  was 
taken  to  Admiral  Sampson's  flagship,  where  he  said 
he  was  sent  by  Admiral  Cervera  to  bring  the  good 
news  that  Hobson  and  all  his  men  were  safe.  Ad 
miral  Cervera  said  that  Hobson's  deed  was  so  brave 
that  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  as  a  man  who  loved  cour 
age  and  rejoiced  to  see  heroism,  even  though  shown 
by  an  enemy,  to  send  word  to  the  American  fleet  that 
Hobson  and  his  men  were  safe  and  were  held  as  pris 
oners.  The  Spanish  officer  offered  to  take  clothing 
and  other  things  back  for  Hobson  and  his  men.  It 
was  a  graceful  act  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish  admiral, 
and  the  American  people  showed  at  once  by  their 
many  kind  words  that  although  Cervera  was  an  enemy 
for  the  time  being,  he  had  the  respect  and  admiration 
of  all  true  citizens  of  the  United  States. 


258  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

It  was  learned  afterward  that  the  fire  from  the 
forts  on  the  Merrimac  was  terrific.  The  Merrimac  was 
shot  through  and  through,  her  decks  were  torn,  and 
her  rudder  was  disabled.  Two  of  the  large  Spanish 
cruisers  in  the  port  also  fired  on  her,  and  a  tor 
pedo  boat  hurled  torpedoes  at  her.  ]^ot  a  man  in  Hob- 
son's  crew  stirred  until  the  orders  were  given  to  let 
go  the  anchors,  and  for  all  hands  to  meet  on  the  quar 
ter-deck,  where  Hobson  had  the  wires  leading  to  the 
torpedoes  on  his  ow^n  ship.  Amid  the  crash  and  thun 
der  of  many  cannon  and  the  screech  of  hundreds  of 
shells,  Hobson  exploded  some  of  his  torpedoes,  the 
wires  to  most  of  them  having  been  destroyed,  and  the 
Merrimac,  which  had  also  been  damaged  by  a  Spanish 
torpedo,  began  to  sink  almost  as  soon  as  she  was 
checked  by  her  anchors. 

Hobson  and  his  men  clung  to  a  raft  during  the  rest 
of  the  darkness.  They  barely  kept  their  heads  above 
water,  because  Spanish  picket  boats  were  passing  about 
the  wreck  constantly,  ready  to  shoot  any  one  who 
might  have  survived.  Soon  after  daylight  a  launch 
was  seen  coming  near  the  sunken  Merrimac.  Hobson 
called  out,  asking  if  there  was  a  Spanish  officer  on 
board  to  whom  he  might  surrender.  Up  to  that  time 
the  Spaniards  thought  they  had  sunk  a  battle  ship  and 
that  all  on  board  had  been  lost.  The  chief  officer  in 
the  launch  was  Admiral  Cervera  himself,  and  although 
the  guards  in  the  boat  pointed  their  guns  at  the  raft  to 


NAVAL  BATTLE  OF  JULY  3,  NEAR  SANTIAGO.     259 

which  Hobson  and  his  men  were  clinging  they  did  not 
shoot,  and  Cervera  helped  Hobson  into  the  launch. 
When  he  learned  the  story  of  the  Merrimac  from  Hob- 
son's  lips  he  praised  Hobson  and  his  men,  and  said  he 
would  send  word  of  their  safety  to  Admiral  Sampson. 
Hobson  and  his  companions  were  kept  prisoners  for 
about  a  month,  arid  then  were  exchanged.  Hobson 
was  soon  afterward  sent  to  the  United  States  on  naval 
business,  and  wherever  he  went  he  wras  greeted  by 
throngs  and  cheers. 

It  was  soon  learned  that  the  Merrimac  did  not 
block  entirely  the  channel  at  Santiago.  When  the 
rudder  was  shot  away,  Hobson  could  not  swing  the 
boat  around,  as  he  had  planned.  Sampson  and  Schley 
kept  up  their  watch  closely,  but  it  was  thought  that  the 
Spanish  ships  would  stay  in  the  harbor  to  help  the 
Spanish  army  fight  the  American  army  under  General 
Shafter.  Cervera,  however,  got  orders  to  leave  the 
harbor  at  once  and  try  to  dash  past  the  American  ships 
and  fight  his  way  through  the  blockade  off  Havana,  so 
as  to  reach  that  port,  It  was  Sunday  morning,  July  3d, 
when  the  men  on  the  American  ships  were  at  quar 
ters  and  would  least  expect  it,  that  Cervera  left  San 
tiago.  He  had  made  his  plans  the  night  before,  and 
soon  after  eight  o'clock  on  that  morning  received  a 
signal  that  Admiral  Sampson  had  left  the  blockade  to 
go  east.  Sampson  intended  to  land  to  have  a  talk  with 
General  Shafter, 


NAVAL  BATTLE  OF  JULY  3,  NEAR  SANTIAGO.  261 

Sampson,  with  his  fast  flagship,  the  New  York, 
had  been  stationed  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  semi 
circle  of  blockading  ships,  and  Schley,  on  his  even 
faster  flagship,  the  Brooklyn,  had  been  stationed  on 
the  western  end.  Between  the  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  were  the  stations  of  the  Oregon,  Iowa, 
Massachusetts,  Indiana,  and  Texas.  There  was  a  gen 
eral  understanding  in  the  American  fleet  that  if  the 
Spanish  ships  should  come  out,  the  American  ships 
should  close  up  to  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  and  try 
to  destroy  them.  The  Spanish  ships  had  full  steam 
up  on  the  morning  of  July  3d,  while  the  Americans 
had  many  boilers  on  their  ships  not  in  use.  Cervera 
decided  to  run  out  of  port  at  full  speed,  and  make  at 
once  for  the  Brooklyn.  It  was  thought  that  if  the 
Brooklyn  could  be  disabled  or  destroyed,  some  of  the 
Spanish  ships  could  outrun  the  rest  of  the  American 
vessels,  and  perhaps  that  all  might  escape. 

It  was  exactly  9.35  A.  M.  when  the  first  of  the 
Spanish  ships  was  seen  coming  out  of  the  harbor. 
Signals  were  hoisted  almost  at  once  saying,  "  Enemy's 
ships  escaping,"  on  almost  all  of  the  American  ships. 
The  battle  ship  Iowa  fired  a  gun  to  call  attention  to 
the  signals.  The  Spanish  ships  came  out  in  single 
file.  In  the  lead  was  the  Infanta  Maria  Teresa,  and 
she  was  followed  at  intervals  of  about  four  hundred 
yards  by  the  Yizcaya,  Cristobal  Colon,  and  Almirante 
Oquendo.  Following  the  Oquendo  were  two  torpedo 


NAVAL  BATTLE  OF  JULY  3,  NEAR  SANTIAGO.     263 

boat  destroyers,  the  Pluton  and  Furor.  They  were 
nearly  half  a  mile  behind  the  Oquendo.  Admiral 
Sampson  being  about  twelve  miles  away,  Commodore 
Schley  was  in  command  of  the  American  vessels. 
The  battle  ship  Massachusetts  had  gone  to  Guan- 
tanamo  for  coal,  and  took  no  part  in  the  fight.  The 
American  vessels  that  did  the  fighting  were  the 
Brooklyn,  the  Texas,  the  Oregon,  the  Iowa,  the  In 
diana,  and  two  small  vessels  which  had  formerly  been 
private  yachts,  and  which  were  called  the  Gloucester 
and  the  Vixen.  The  Iowa  and  Texas  were  almost 
directly  opposite  the  harbor  entrance.  The  Oregon 
and  Indiana  were  some  distance  to  the  eastward,  and 
the  Brooklyn  was  to  the  westward.  The  Gloucester 
lay  near  the  Oregon,  and  the  Vixen  was  close  to  the 
shore  and  nearest  to  the  Brooklyn  on  the  west. 

Cervera's  flagship  was  the  Teresa,  which  came  out 
first.  As  soon  as  the  American  ships  were  within 
sight  he  began  to  fire.  By  this  time  the  American 
ships  were  in  fighting  trim,  and  every  man  was  at 
his  post.  Smoke  was  pouring  from  the  funnels,  and 
powder  and  shot  were  being  passed  to  guns.  All  the 
American  ships  were  also  in  motion  toward  the  harbor 
entrance.  Cervera  saw  at  once  that  to  escape  he  must 
turn  toward  the  west.  He  saw  that  it  was  useless  to 
fight  with  his  ships  coming  out  one  by  one,  as  they 
were,  and  one  by  one  receiving  the  awful  fire  of  the 
American  ships.  He  turned  sharply  toward  the  west. 


NAVAL  BATTLE  OF  JULY  3,  NEAR  SANTIAGO.  265 

Before  he  had  made  the  turn,  however,  it  seemed  as  if 
every  gun  on  the  American  ships  had  sent  some  kind 
of  a  missile  into  his  flagship.  A  large  shell  had  en 
tered  the  boat  and  cut  the  water  pipe,  which  was  used 
to  put  out  fires. 

Cervera  had  not  gone  a  mile  before  his  ship  was 
useless.  Scores  of  men  were  killed  on  board,  and 
fires  were  burning  in  many  places.  Commodore 
Schley  on  the  Brooklyn  made  a  turn  with  his  ship  and 
started  toward  the  west  after  the  fleeing  Spaniard. 
When  the  Vizcaya  appeared  around  the  entrance  to 
the  port  she,  too,  was  met  by  a  terrible  fire.  One 
thirteen-inch  shell  alone  killed  more  than  sixty  of  her 
crew.  She  was  not  so  badly  damaged  as  the  Teresa, 
and  she  managed  to  pass  ahead  of  the  flagship.  The 
Cristobal  Colon,  the  fastest  of  the  Spanish  ships, 
escaped  without  much  damage  as  she  came  out  of  the 
harbor,  and  running  inside  of  the  Teresa,  which  was 
now  lagging  behind,  and  the  Yizcaya,  which  was 
making  a  hard  race  for  life,  soon  passed  to  the  front 
out  of  the  range  of  the  American  ships,  and  seemed 
safe  from  capture.  When  the  Oquendo  came  out,  she 
received  the  fire  of  most  of  the  American  ships,  and  suf 
fered  almost  as  much  damage  as  the  Teresa. 

Then  came  the  two  torpedo  boats.  The  American 
fleet  had  been  moving  somewhat  slowly  toward  the 
west.  Two  of  the  Spanish  vessels,  the  Colon  and  Yiz 
caya,  were  far  ahead  of  them,  and  looked  to  be  safe. 


266  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

The  Teresa  and  Oqneiido  were  hopelessly  crippled,  and 
while  the  American  ships  were  firing  their  big  guns 
at  them  the  same  ships  turned  their  smaller  guns  on 
the  torpedo  boats  Furor  and  Pluton.  The  Glou 
cester  ran  up  to  meet  those  boats,  and  began  to  shoot 
at  them  with  great  vigor.  A  shell  from  the  Iowa 
pierced  the  boiler  of  the  Pluton,  and  a  black  column 
of  smoke  leaped  from  her  deck  and  she  began  to  sink. 
The  Gloucester  dashed  in  under  the  forts  and  drove 
the  Furor  on  the  beach,  where  she  sank  in  the  surf. 
Of  the  one  hundred  and  forty  men  on  these  two 
torpedo  boats,  only  eighteen  were  saved.  'No  more 
gallant  work  was  ever  done  in  battle  than  was  done 
by  Commander  Wainwright  on  the  Gloucester.  The 
Pluton  and  the  Furor  were  destroyed  within  twenty 
minutes  after  they  appeared.  They  had  not  gone 
more  than  three  miles  from  the  harbor. 

It  was  exactly  at  10.15  A.  M.,  or  forty  minutes 
.from  the  time  she  came  out  of  the  harbor,  that  the 
Teresa  was  seen  to  turn  toward  the  shore  at  a  place 
called  Mmawima,  six  miles  and  a  half  from  Santiago 
harbor.  She  soon  struck  the  beach,  and  those  of  her 
crew  who  were  not  dead  or  wounded  leaped  over 
board  to  escape  the  fire  that  was  sweeping  through  the 
ship,  and  began  to  swim  for  safety.  Among  them  was 
Admiral  Cervera.  Most  of  the  American  ships  were 
abreast  of  the  Teresa  by  this  time,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Indiana,  and  orders  were  given  to  cease  firing. 


11) 


268  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

Ten  minutes  later  the  Oquendo,  which  had  come  up 
and  had  gone  about  six  hundred  yards  past  the  spot 
where  the  Teresa  was  beached,  turned  her  prow  toward 
the  shore  and  in  flames  struck  the  ground  a  complete 
wreck.  Her  men  also  leaped  in  the  water  and  began 
to  swim  for  their  lives.  The  Gloucester  came  up  and 
took  Admiral  Cervera  on  board,  and  protected  the 
Spanish  crews  from  some  Cubans  who  were  shooting  at 
them  after  they  had  landed  helpless  on  the  shore. 

By  this  time  Admiral  Sampson  had  come  hurrying 
back  in  his  flagship.  The  Indiana  had  been  unable 
to  take  up  the  chase  for  the  fleeing  Colon  and  Viz 
caya,  and  he  ordered  the  Indiana  back  to  the  harbor  to 
guard  it.  Meantime  the  Brooklyn,  Oregon,  Texas,  and 
Iowa  were  dashing  down  the  coast  after  the  Vizcaya. 
She  soon  received  the  fire  from  all,  and  was  damaged 
most  severely  by  the  Oregon,  which,  with  a  mighty 
rush  of  speed,  had  passed  all  the  other  American  ships 
except  the  Brooklyn.  The  Oregon  had  shown  her 
merit  in  her  fast  trip  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Cuban 
waters,  and  she  was  now  to  prove  her  worth  and  the 
wisdom  of  bringing  her  on  so  long  a  journey  by  great 
services  in  battle.  At  11.15  the  Yizcaya  could  no 
longer  stand  the  fire  she  was  receiving  from  all  the 
ships,  and  she,  too,  ran  ashore.  At  this  time  the 
Brooklyn  was  in  the  lead  of  the  American  vessels,  the 
Oregon  next,  the  Texas  following,  and  the  Iowa  last. 
As  the  Texas  ceased  to  fire  on  the  Vizcaya,  and  it  was 


NAVAL  BATTLE  OF  JULY  3,  NEAR  SANTIAGO.  269 

seen  that  she  was  a  wreck,  the  men  on  the  Texas  began 
to  cheer.  Captain  J.  W.  Philip,  of  the  Texas,  at  once 
shouted  to  his  men : 

"  Don't  cheer,  men;  the  poor  fellows  there  are 
dying." 

The  Iowa  was  left  to  take  care  of  the  Vizcaya,  and 
then  there  came  a  two  hours'  chase  for  the  Colon. 
The  Colon  kept  near  the  shore,  and  Commodore 
Schley,  on  the  Brooklyn,  put  out  to  sea  a  little,  steer 
ing  for  a  cape  where  he  knew  that  he  could  head  off 
the  Colon.  The  Oregon  was  still  coming  up  at  great 
speed,  with  smoke  and  flame  pouring  out  of  her 
smokestacks.  The  Texas  was  also  making  fast  time, 
and  Schley  saw  that  the  Oregon  would  soon  catch  the 
Colon,  and  the  Texas  also  might  be  able  to  overhaul 
her.  At  last  the  Oregon  came  within  four  miles  of  the 
Colon,  and  began  to  shoot  at  her  with  thirteen-inch 
guns.  One  shot  landed  close  to  the  stern,  and  another 
struck  the  water  near  the  bow.  At  the  same  time 
the  Brooklyn,  which  was  abreast  of  the  Colon,  and 
about  three  miles  off,  began  firing  at  her  with  eight- 
inch  guns.  The  captain  of  the  Colon  saw  that  his  ship 
was  doomed,  and  turned  to  the  shore  at  1.15  P.  M. 
He  fired  a  gun  from  the  lee  side  of  his  ship,  which 
meant  that  he  had  given  up.  She  was  then  forty-eight 
miles  west  of  Santiago.  The  New  York  arrived  al 
most  as  soon  as  the  Brooklyn  closed  in,  and  Admiral 
Sampson  took  charge  of  affairs. 


NAVAL  BATTLE  OF  JULY  3,  NEAR  SANTIAGO.  271 

The  dead  on  the  Spanish  ships  numbered  more 
than  five  hundred,  and  the  wounded  numbered  more 
than  twelve  hundred.  Nearly  two  thousand  men  were 
taken  prisoners.  Only  one  man  was  killed  on  the 
United  States  fleet.  He  was  a  chief  yeoman,  named 
Ellis,  on  the  Brooklyn.  One  man  was  also  wounded  on 
the  Brooklyn.  Nearly  all  of  the  American  ships  were 
hit  during  the  fight,  the  Brooklyn  being  struck  about 
twenty-five  times,  but  the  damage  was  not  serious  on 
any  of  them,  and  all  were  in  as  good  fighting  condition 
at  the  close  as  at  the  beginning  of  the  fight.  It  was 
practically  as  great  a  victory  as  that  won  by  Dewey  at 
Manila.  In  the  Santiago  fight  the  American  ships  had 
to  meet  the  very  best  kind  of  modern  war  ships. 
Spain's  vessels  were  unable  to  go  as  fast  as  was  ex 
pected,  because  of  poor  coal  and  because  the  bottoms  of 
the  vessels  were  very  foul  with  barnacles  and  weeds. 
The  Vizcaya  and  Oquendo  were  so  riddled  and  burned 
that  they  were  ruined.  The  United  States  naval  offi 
cers,  however,  thought  they  could  save  the  Teresa 
and  Colon  and  add  them  to  the  American  navy.  The 
Teresa  was  raised,  but  was  lost  while  being  brought  to 
this  country. 

On  board  the  Spanish  ships  which  went  ashore  the 
guns  were  loaded,  and  the  fire  set  them  off  and  exploded 
the  ammunition  in  the  magazines.  The  American 
sailors  showed  great  bravery  in  going  aboard  the 
Spanish  ships  at  this  time,  and  in  saving  wounded 


272  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

and  dying  men.  The  condition  of  the  Vizcaya  proved 
that  when  the  Maine  was  blown  np  in  Havana 
harbor  it  was  not  an  accident.  Spain  had  said  that 
one  of  the  magazines  of  the  Maine  had  exploded, 
but  she  could  not  explain  why  the  bottom  of  the  ship 
came  to  the  top  of  the  wreck.  One  of  the  magazines 
on  the  Vizcaya  exploded  while  she  was  on  the  beach, 
and  the  bottom  of  the  ship  was  blown  down  and  away 
from  the  wreck,  proving  that  the  Maine  must  have 
been  destroyed  by  a  mine  which  had  been  set  off  by 
Spanish  agents. 

As  soon  as  the  battle  was  over  there  was  a  scene 
on  board  the  Texas  which  touched  the  heart  of  the 
American  nation,  and  showed  the  kind  of  stuff  of 
which  an  American  crew  and  their  captain  is 
made.  The  crew  lined  up  and  gave  three  cheers 
for  Captain  Philip.  The  captain  then  called  every 
man  that  could  be  spared  to  the  quarter-deck,  and 
with  his  head  bared  made  this  remarkable  speech  to 
his  men: 

"  I  want  to  make  public  acknowledgment  here  that 
I  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty.  I  want  all 
you  officers  and  men  to  lift  your  hats,  and  from  your 
hearts  offer  silent  thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  this 
day." 

All  hats  came  off,  and  after  a  moment  or  two  of 
silence  the  crew  burst  into  cheers  again  for  their 
captain. 


Vizcaya  at  the  moment  of  the  explosion  of  her  magazines. 
From  an  instantaneous  photograph. 


274  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF   WAR. 

Commodore  Schley;  who  was  in  charge  of  the  fleet 
during  the  fighting,  gave  Admiral  Sampson  full  credit 
for  the  victory,  and  said  to  Sampson  in  his  report  thai 
he  was  glad  to  take  part  in  a  "  victory  that  seems  big 
enough  for  all  of  us." 

Captain  Evans,  of  the  Iowa,  known  in  the  navy 
as  "  Fighting  Bob,"  won  praise  throughout  the  land 
by  this  remark  about  his  sailors  in  his  report: 

"  So  long  as  the  enemy  showed  his  flag  they  fought 
like  American  seamen,  but  when  the  flag  came  down 
they  were  as  gentle  and  tender  as  American  women." 

In  this  great  fight  all  the  crews  of  the  American 
ships  showed  equal  bravery.  The  men  at  the  guns 
never  flinched,  although  thousands  of  shots  were  fly 
ing  near  them,  and  the  men  who  were  feeding  the 
fires  stuck  to  their  work  in  the  awful  heat  and  toiled 
as  they  had  never  done  before.  Some  of  them  fainted 
several  times,  but  they  would  not  leave  the  fire  rooms, 
and  as  much  credit  should  be  given  to  the  stokers  who 
kept  the  fires  bright  as  to  the  gunners  who  destroyed 
the  enemy's  ships.  It  was  the  general  opinion  that  if 
any  one  vessel  was  to  be  singled  out  for  special  praise 
it  was  the  Oregon,  which  came  to  the  assistance  of 
the  Brooklyn  in  gallant  style,  and  helped  the  Brook 
lyn  to  finish  a  glorious  contest.  The  Spaniards  fought 
bravely,  but,  having  had  no  target  practice,  they  could 
not  shoot  straight.  The  Americans  knew  how  to 
shoot,  and  that  won  the  day.  Spain  had  now  only 


NAVAL  BATTLE  OF  JULY  3,  NEAR  SANTIAGO.  275 

two  first-class  vessels  left  in  her  navy — a  battle  ship 
and  an  armored  cruiser — and  she  was  helpless  on  the 
ocean.  Santiago  soon  surrendered  to  General  Shaf- 
ter,  and  in  less  than  one  month  Spain  asked  the 
United  States  for  terms  of  peace. 

Some  of  the  small  vessels  of  the  navy  entered  har 
bors  on  the  Cuban  coast  and  destroyed  several  gun 
boats  as  Sampson's  fleet  had  destroyed  the  larger  ships. 
Half  a  dozen  small  gunboats  were  captured  in  various 
Cuban  harbors  and  added  to  the  American  navy.  The 
part  that  the  navy  played  in  the  war  was  indeed 
glorious. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

VERA    CRUZ 1014. 

AFTER  the  Spanish  War  ended  there  was  no  ac 
tive  war  service  for  the  navy  until  April,  1914, 
when  what  was  called  an  "Expeditionary  Force"  was 
sent  to  Vera  Cruz  by  President  Woodrow  Wilson  to 
force  a  salute  to  the  American  flag,  in  reparation  for 
an  insult  at  Tampico  to  our  flag  and  government  by 
the  Huerta  government,  at  that  time  in  control  of 
Mexico.  Although  no  declaration  of  war  was  made 
by  either  side  a  state  of  war  existed  and  the  outcome 
was  a  two-days'  fight  in  the  capture  of  Vera  Cruz  on 
the  morning  of  April  22;  by  about  7,000  of  our  ma 
rines  and  sailors.  In  the  fighting  17  of  our  men  were 
killed  outright  and  half  a  dozen  of  the  50  wounded, 
died  later.  The  Mexicans  lost  126  soldiers  and  citi 
zen  "snipers"  in  the  fighting  and  about  300  were 
wounded. 

Later  an  army  force  of  about  10,000  men  was  sent 
to  Vera  Cruz  under  command  of  Brig.  Gen.  Fred 
erick  Funston.  It  remained  there  until  the  following 
November.  Huerta,  whom  the  United  States  gov- 
276 


VERA  CRUZ— 1914  277 

eminent  had  refused  to  recognize  as-  the  legal  Presi 
dent  of  Mexico,  because  of  his  alleged  participation 
in  the  murder  of  Francisco  Madero,  deposed  as  Presi 
dent  by  General  Huerta,  meantime  had  fled  from 
Mexico.  He  left  the  country  in  a  state  of  anarchy 
and  one  provisional  President  after  another  followed. 
President  Wilson  ordered  the  army  and  navy  home 
in  the  fall  of  1914,  and  the  salute  to  the  American 
flag,  which  Mr.  Wilson  demanded  and  which  was  tho 
occasion  of  our  armed  invasion  of  a  foreign  country, 
followed  by  bloodshed,  was  never  given.  Mexican 
pride  was  not  humiliated. 

Mexico  had  been  in  a  state  of  revolution  for  more 
than  three  years.  Diaz,  who,  in  spite  of  the  constitu 
tion  of  the  country,  had  made  himself  a  sort1  of  per 
petual  president  and  who  had  ruled  the  country  as 
a  dictator  for  a  generation,  was  forced  to  flee  finally 
through  the  uprising  started  by  Madero  and  the  latter 
was  elected  President  at  a  legal  but  farcical  election. 
His  friends  finally  turned  against  him.  Huerta,  who 
had  been  one  of  his  mainstays,  joined  in  the  move 
ment  to  oust  him.  Huerta  was  charged  openly  not 
only  with  treachery,  but  with  ordering  the  assassina 
tion  of  Madero  while  the  latter  was  being  taken  to 
jail  from  the  President's  residence.  Huerta  always 
denied  that  he  had  instigated  the  murder. 

Many  foreign  governments  recognized  Huerta  as 
de  facto  President,  but  President  Wilson  refused  to 


278  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

so  recognize  him.  Meantime  a  revolution  had  started 
against  Huerta  and  later  these  revolutionists  fell  out 
against  one  another.  There  were  many  large  foreign 
investments  in  Mexico,  chiefly  in  mining  and  in  oil 
fields.  Foreign  governments  unofficially  kept  asking 
the  United  States  to  restore  peace  in  the  stricken 
country  and  protect  their  interests.  American  in 
vestors  in  oil  fields  seemed  arrayed  for  a  time  against 
English  investors.  Soon  the  great  oil  fields  near 
Tampico  on  the  Atlantic  coast  came  to  be  a  centre 
of  contention.  American  interests  in  that  neighbor 
hood  demanded  protection  and  Kear  Admiral  Henry 
T.  Mayo  was  sent  there  hastily  with  a  small  force, 
among  which  was  the  despatch  boat  Dolphin. 

There  was  no  outbreak  until  the  morning  of  April 
9,  1914,  when  the  paymaster  of  the  Dolphin  and 
seven  men  were  sent  ashore  to  buy  some  gasoline  for 
use  on  the  Dolphin.  Their  whaleboat  flew  the  Amer 
ican  flag,  as  was  proper.  As  soon  as  the  boat  reached 
shore  a  military  officer  of  the  Huerta  government 
arrested  the  entire  force  and  took  them  to  jail,  on 
the  pretext  that  they  had  invaded  Mexican  soil  flying 
a  foreign  flag.  Rear  Admiral  Mayo  at  once  de 
manded  the  release  of  the  men  and  furthermore  de 
manded  a  written  apology  and  a  salute  to  the  United 
States'  flag  within  twenty-four  hours.  Later  he  ex 
tended  the  time  for  the  salute  for  another  twenty- 
four  hours.  He  agreed  to  salute  the  Mexican  flag 


VERA  CRUZ— 1914  279 

after  ours  had  been  saluted.  This  demand  was  re 
fused  indignantly  by  the  Huerta  government.  Mayo 
reported  what  he  had  done  to  Washington  and 
President  Wilson  backed  up  Mayo's  demands. 
After  three  or  four  days'  negotiations  the  Huerta 
government  agreed  to  a  simultaneous  salute  of  both 
flags,  but  no  further  would  it  go.  President  Wilson 
finally  fixed  a  definite  date  for  the  Mexican  salute 
to  our  flag  and  threatened  force  if  it  were  not 
given. 

Huerta  scornfully  let  the  hour  go  by.  Eear  Ad 
miral  Frank  F.  Fletcher  was  ordered  to  Vera  Cruz 
with  a  division  consisting  of  the  Prairie,  Chester  and 
San  Francisco,  all  cruisers,  and  the  battle  ships 
Florida  and  Utah.  He  had  several  smaller  vessels 
with  him.  Orders  were  also  hurried  to  Rear  Ad 
miral  Charles  J.  Badger,  in  command  of  the  Atlantic 
Fleet  and  then  in  West  Indian  waters,  to  hurry  to 
Fletcher's  assistance.  Fletcher  and  Badger  were 
told  to  take  possession  of  the  custom  house  and  the 
port  and  to  hold  them  until  an  army  force  could  be 
sent  from  Galveston  to  relieve  them  from  shore  duty. 
Fletcher,  in  sole  command  until  Badger  should  ar 
rive,  tried  to  find  the  officials  of  the  port  and  city 
but  they  disappeared.  He  gave  notice  that  he  would 
land  his  men  at  a  certain  time.  He  warned  the 
commander  of  the  Fort  San  Juan  d'Ulloa  not  to  fire 
on  his  ships.  A  force  of  several  thousand  Mexican 


280  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

troops  had  been  held  in  the  city,  but  they  were  with 
drawn  gradually  to  the  suburbs. 

Fletcher  did  not  want  to  bombard  the  town.  He 
sent  1,300  sailors  and  marines  ashore  on  the  after 
noon  of  April  21st  and  street  fighting  began  at  once. 
Street  after  street  was  cleared.  The  ships  also  fired 
at  the  naval  academy  and  other  buildings  from  which 
shots  were  being  fired  at  our  men.  By  nightfall  the 
sailors  and  marines  had  possession  of  the  parks,  the 
open  spaces  of  the  town  and  the  chief  streets.  De 
sultory  shooting  kept  up  through  the  night  and  soon 
after  midnight,  on  the  morning  of  April  22d,  Ad 
miral  Badger  arrived  with  his  fleet  of  battle  ships, 
several  hours  before  he  was  expected.  In  the  fleet 
were  the  battle  ships  Arkansas,  Delaware,  Kansas, 
New  Hampshire,  South  Carolina,  Michigan  and 
New  Jersey.  Other  battle  ships  were  hurried  from 
naval  stations  in  the  United  States. 

Fletcher  at  2.30  in  the  morning  reported  to  Bad 
ger  what  had  been  done,  and  at  daylight  nearly 
6,000  more  men  were  landed  from  the  ships.  Many 
of  these  units  went  into  action  and  there  were  lively 
exchanges  of  shots  in  the  streets  up  to  eleven  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  when  the  naval  force  was  in  undis 
puted  possession  of  the  town,  and  the  Mexican  force 
had  fled  several  miles  out  into  the  country. 

The  dead  and  wounded  were  cared  for,  and  later 
the  American  dead  were  sent  to  the  United  States, 


VERA  CRUZ— 1914  281 

where  a  great  public  funeral  was  held  in  the  New 
York  navy  yard  in  Brooklyn  on  May  12.  Presi 
dent  Wilson  made  the  chief  address  at  the  funeral, 
and  in  his  speech  he  said : 

"  We  have  gone  down  to  Mexico  to  serve  man 
kind  if  we  can  find  the  way."  Evidently  the  United 
States  did  not  find  a  way,  for  at  this  writing,  late  in 
August,  1915,  Mexico  is  still  in  a  state  of  revolu 
tion  and  President  Wilson  has  just  called  a  confer 
ence  of  North,  Central  and  South  American  diplo 
mats  to  find  the  way  of  restoring  peace  to  poor  Mex 
ico.  As  has  been  said,  the  "  Expeditionary  Eorce  " 
failed  completely  in  its  purpose  to  require  a  salute 
from  anyone  in  authority  in  Mexico  to  our  flag  for 
the  insult  in  Tampico.  The  prevailing  belief  in  the 
United  States  was  that  the  demand  for  a  salute  was 
merely  a  pretext  for  interference  by  our  country, 
in  the  hope  of  driving  Huerta  out  and  restoring 
peace.  To  have  required  a  salute  would  probably 
have  brought  on  war  on  an  extended  scale,  and  this 
President  Wilson  was  determined  not  to  have  if  he 
could  prevent  it.  He  gave  up  the  idea  when  the 
entire  military  and  naval  force  was  brought  home 
in  November  and  Yera  Cruz  was  given  back  to  the 
Mexicans.  The  menace  of  further  war  on  our  part 
compelled  Huerta  to  quit  Mexico,  and  in  that  respect 
President  Wilson's  "  expedition  "  was  a  success. 

A  notable  event  in  the  naval  history  of  the  world, 


282  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

although  in  no  way  connected  with  war  or  the  im 
mediate  prospect  of  any  war,  was  the  despatch  of  the 
United  States  Atlantic  Fleet  around  the  world,  the 
start  heing  made  on  December  16,  1907.  The  fleet 
returned  on  Feb.  22;  1909,  to  Hampton  Koads,  from 
which  it  started.  The  cruise  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  world.  The  fleet  consisted  of  sixteen  battle 
ships.  Fourteen  of  the  ships  made  the  entire  cruise. 
Two  of  the  original  sixteen  were  detached  at  San 
Francisco,  after  making  the  journey  around  South 
America,  and  two  others  took  their  places  for  the  re 
turn  to  the  Atlantic  through  the  Mediterranean. 

K~o  nation  had  ever  made  such  a  naval  demon 
stration.  President  Theodore  Roosevelt,  who  once 
was  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy  and  who  was 
always  an  advocate  of  a  strong  navy,  ordered  the 
cruise.  He  never  made  public  his  reasons  for  the 
showy  display.  There  were  many  misgivings  over 
leaving  the  Atlantic  coast  unprotected,  and  many 
nations  were  much  concerned  over  the  meaning  of 
the  trip. 

The  cruise  was  a  revelation  of  latent  power  to 
the  other  nations.  It  displayed  the  flag  with  the 
emblems  of  power  in  every  continent,  and  on  every 
sea.  Instead  of  evoking  hostile  criticism  the 
journey  resolved  itself  into  a  manifestation  of 
friendship  by  other  nations.  The  ovations  to  the 
American  officers  and  sailors  increased  as  the  fleet 


VERA  CRUZ— 1914  283 

made  its  progress  from  country  to  country.  Brazil, 
Chile  and  Peru  showed  the  warmest  kind  of  hos 
pitality.  Then  came  a  visit  to  iN"ew  Zealand  and 
Australia,  where  the  demonstrations  were  most  ex 
uberant.  Japan  gave  most  cordial  greetings,  and 
CHina  added  its  expression  of  welcome.  Various 
countries  bordering  on  the  Mediterranean  joined  in 
the  acclaim,  and  when  the  Fleet  was  welcomed  home 
by  President  Roosevelt,  he  made  a  speech  of  five 
words,  saying: 

"  You  have  done  the  trick.'7 

~No  further  explanation  could  be  obtained  from 
the  President  as  to  the  motives  which  inspired  this 
stirring  procession  of  warships  carrying  the  Ameri 
can  flag  around  the  entire  world. 

The  Fleet  steamed  about  46,000  miles.  It  was 
reviewed  by  four  presidents :  Roosevelt  of  the  United 
States,  Penna  of  Brazil,  Montt  of  Chile  and  Pardo 
of  Peru.  The  Emperor  of  Japan  entertained  the 
leading  officers  at  luncheon.  Prince  Lang  of  China 
was  also  host  to  part  of  the  Fleet  at  Amoy.  The 
Khedive  of  Egypt  also  entertained  a  group  of  officers 
at  Cairo.  The  King  and  Queen  of  Greece  dined  on 
one  of  the  battle  ships,  and  the  King  of  Italy  received 
Admiral  Sperry  and  staff  in  Rome. 

Rear  Admiral  Robley  D.  Evans  was  in  command 
of  the  Fleet  on  the  trip  from  Hampton  Roads  to  San 

Francisco,  where,  owing  to  ill  health,  he  was   de- 
20 


284  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

tached.  Rear  Admiral  Charles  M.  Thomas  succeeded 
him  for  five  days  only,  and  then  Rear  Admiral 
Charles  S.  Sperry  took  command  for  the  rest  of  the 
journey. 

The  period  from  1898,  when  the  Spanish  War 
ended,  until  the  present  writing,  1915,  has  been  one 
of  great  development  and  of  preparation  for  war  by 
the  American  navy.  Although  the  Atlantic  Fleet 
destroyed  the  Spanish  ships  off  Cuba  in  1898,  that 
short  conflict  and  the  battle  that  Dewey  had  with  the 
Spaniards  in  Manila  Bay,  disclosed  that  not  only 
was  there  great  need  for  a  real  navy  but  for  better 
marksmanship.  At  once  the  naval  authorities  began 
an  agitation  for  more  and  larger  battle  ships,  and  for 
money  to  provide  target  shooting  on  an  extensive 
scale  twice  a  year.  The  plan  was  adopted  of  adding 
at  least  one  battle  ship  a  year,  but  generally  two,  until 
by  1910  the  United  States  navy  was  ranked  third 
in  the  naval  strength  of  the  nations,  Great  Britain 
and  Germany  alone  exceeding  it.  At  times  since 
then  it  has  been  asserted  that  the  United  States  has 
passed  Germany  in  naval  power,  but  this  has  always 
been  a  question  of  doubt.  The  fact  is  the  navies  of 
Germany  and  the  United  States,  both  of  which  have 
grown  rapidly  in  the  last  fifteen  years,  have  been 
about  equal  in  strength.  In  skill  in  shooting,  how 
ever,  the  United  States  has  surpassed  the  records 
of  all  others,  according  to  target  practice  statistics. 


VERA  CRUZ— 1914  285 

There  are  5,000  officers  and  about  55,000  men  in 
round  numbers  on  the  roster  of  the  United  States 
navy.  Great  Britain  has  a  naval  rule  that  her  power 
on  the  sea  must  be  equal  to  that  of  the  two  next 
strongest  naval  powers.  According  to  the  latest 
figures  the  British  navy  in  high-powered  ships 
consists  of  76  battle  ships  and  44  armored  cruis 
ers,  built  or  building.  Germany  has  40  battle 
ships  and  17  armored  cruisers  built  or  building, 
and  the  United  States  has  40  battle  ships  and 
11  armored  cruisers,  built  or  building.  Each 
navy  has  a  corresponding  list  of  unarmored  cruisers, 
destroyers,  torpedo  boats  and  submarines  with  aux 
iliaries  of  various  kinds.  The  life  of  a  battle  ship 
is  rarely  longer  than  ten  years.  All  of  the  battle 
ships  of  Sampson's  Fleet  at  Santiago  in  1898  were 
out  of  date  before  the  great  cruise  of  the  Atlantic 
Fleet  around  the  world  began  in  1907,  and  the  cost 
of  a  battle  ship  has  risen  from  about  $5,000,000, 
when  the  Oregon  was  built,  to  nearly  $15,000,000. 
In  the  spring  of  1915  the  United  States  launched 
the  most  powerful  battle  ship  afloat  in  the  Arizona  of 
30,000  tons,  as  compared  with  10,000  tons  of  the 
Oregon,  or  the  16,000  tons  of  the  Connecticut,  the 
flagship  of  the  American  Fleet  on  the  big  cruise. 

In  one  respect  the  United  States  Fleet  has 
lagged  woefully  behind  those  of  Great  Britain  and 
Germany.  That  has  been,  the  development  of  tor- 


286  OUR  NAVY  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

pedo  destroyers  and  submarines.  In  aviation  also 
has  our  country  been  far  behind  those  two  nations, 
although  Congress  recently  appropriated  $1,000,000 
for  aviation  experiments  for  the  navy.  The  sub 
marine,  which  has  focussed  the  attention  of  the  world 
by  its  feats  of  daring  and  great  destruction,  espe 
cially  by  the  Germans,  in  the  Great  European  War 
now  going  on,  was  originally  an  American  invention. 
Bushnell  tried  successfully  such  a  boat  in  New  York 
harbor  just  before  the  Revolutionary  War.  After 
ward  Robert  Fulton  tried  to  induce  England  and 
France  to  take  up  the  invention  without  success. 
Napoleon  watched  one  perform  successfully  in  Paris, 
but  he  and  all  the  other  military  authorities  of  Eu 
rope  frowned  on  the  use  of  such  war  implements 
on  the  ground  that  they  were  inhuman  and  would 
produce  cowardly  warfare.  What  would  they  say 
if  they  could  read  the  history  of  naval  warfare  of 
to-day  ? 

The  foregoing  pages  tell  of  an  attempt  to  make 
use  of  the  submarine  principle  in  the  Civil  War. 
It  was  not  a  success.  In  the  early  eighties  a  New 
Jersey  school  teacher,  named  Holland,  brought  a 
better  perfected  submarine  to  the  attention  of  our 
government.  Our  naval  men  looked  askance  at  it. 
It  was  made  on  the  principle  that  now  governs  sub 
marines  :  fuel  combustion  while  running  on  the  sur 
face  and  electrical  power  for  running  while 


VERA  CRUZ— 1914  287 

merged.  No  less  than  three  of  our  naval  boards 
reported  against  accepting  it.  Finally  with  great  re 
luctance  our  navy  adopted  the  boat. 

Other  countries,  notably  England,  France  and 
Germany,  also  experimented  with  the  Holland  and 
similar  designs  and  made  great  headway  in  build 
ing  them.  Not  until  the  Great  European  War  did 
they  have  a  fair  trial.  Japan  ordered  three  or  four 
from  this  country  when  at  war  with  Russia,  but  they 
arrived  too  late  to  be  of  service.  Germany's  raids  in 
1915  on  English  commerce  and  on  English  warships 
revealed  their  great  use  and  tremendous  power.  The 
sinking  of  the  great  English  transatlantic  liner 
Lusitania,  in  the  spring  of  1915,  sent  a  thrill  of  hor 
ror  around  the  world.  A.  great  American  engine  of 
war,  the  submarine,  then  came  into  its  own  as  a 
terrible  agent  of  destruction,  and,  as  a  result,  the 
submarine  and  the  flying  machine,  also  of  American 
origin,  bid  fair  to  revolutionize  the  science  of  war 
fare. 


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